Fate Butterfly
by Casey W
Summary: The year is X780. The unrivaled master of mind magic, Philemon Weaver, hands over his guild to the next generation of mages.
1. Like a Dream Come True

X780

A checkered floor surrounded by four pillars sat unsupported within the empty void of what could only be a dream. Standing in this specially designed meeting area were two figures with the appearance of young men. One wore a white suit, his age undeterminable due to the butterfly mask adorning his face. The other, in his early teens, wore grey, a pierced ear visible beneath his mid-length dark hair.

"Do you believe in fate, young man?" the masked man asked his young guest without preamble.

The young man blinked his surprise away before answering. "I think so. It's nice to think there's a reason things happen the way they do. That in the end it'll all make sense."

A checkered floor surrounded by four pillars sat unsupported within the empty void of what could only be a dream. Standing in this specially designed meeting area were two figures with the appearance of young men. One wore a white suit, his age undeterminable due to the butterfly mask adorning his face. The other, in his early teens, wore a black suit with white strips and a blue tie, his hair and eyes an identical shade of brown.

"Do you believe in fate, young man?" the masked man asked his young guest without preamble.

The young man blinked his surprise away before smiling as he answered. "Not really, but it sure makes a nice excuse when things go wrong."

A checkered floor surrounded by four pillars sat unsupported within the empty void of what could only be a dream. Standing in this specially designed meeting area were two figures; one with the appearance of a young man, the other a young lady. One wore a white suit, his age undeterminable due to the butterfly mask adorning his face. The other, in her early teens, had auburn hair and red eyes. Her clothing was similar to a school uniform.

"Do you believe in fate, young lady?" the masked man asked his young guest without preamble.

The girl blinked her surprise away before answering. "No. Believing in fate means accepting things couldn't be different. That any moral crises you come across don't matter because your choice was predetermined."

A checkered floor surrounded by four pillars sat unsupported within the empty void of what could only be a dream. Standing in this specially designed meeting area were two figures with the appearance of young men. One wore a white suit, his age undeterminable due to the butterfly mask adorning his face. The other, in his early teens, wore black smart casual clothing with white lining and a checkered collar on the jacket. His grey hair stood at odds with the apparent age of his face.

"Do you believe in fate, young man?", the masked man asked his young guest without preamble.

Surprised by the odd question, the young man blinked before deciding to answer the question with a question. "In general or as a reason why I'm here now?"

If the masked man displayed any emotion at the non-answer, it was hidden behind the mask. "Either. Both."

"Well for why we're here now, I'd say that's because you brought us here if you have the presence of mind to ask a question of me out of the blue. So was that fate? Well I couldn't have done anything to stop it happening so you could say you fated me to be here by bringing me here. And I guess that gives an answer for in general as well. Fate only exists for those incapable of freeing themselves from it. Fate is a prison for the weak."

A silence came over all four instances of the dream space before the four identical masked men spoke as one and were heard by all involved. "Excellent." The four spaces fused together, four masked men and four guests all together on the same checkered floor. The four replicas atomised before coming together to form a single masked man. "Dreams. Wonderful things, aren't they? Great and terrible things where anything is possible! Moreover, they are where your inner selves, your _true_ selves come out to play."

"I have a proposition for you all."

The boy with the piercing looked around and was surprised by the others' presence, having not noticed their sudden and silent appearance. The brown-haired boy glanced at the others' reactions curiously. The girl was still puzzling over the trick with the merging clones. The grey-haired boy just stared at the masked man, waiting for him to continue and mostly ignoring the others.

"I was a savant of mind magic, you know. Truly mastered the craft. I could destroy most of the Wizard Saints before they even knew they were in a fight. But to manipulate the mind is a cheap parlour trick, compared to truly understanding it. Such was my ambition. I sought understanding of a subject of both one and one thousand questions. I set up my own guild for this very goal, dedicated to research in my field, going above and beyond anything a mage had done before. And in the name of discovery, I broke one rule too many. I attempted to see into the collective unconscious, the realm where all minds are connected. While I succeeded, it was not the great breakthrough I imagined. I did not so much 'see' into it as I did dive in head first, my conscious mind leaving my body to do so."

"That was four years ago and I have been trapped here since, my still living body the only thing keeping my consiousness from dissolving into the ether. While I'm not a fan of the consequences I don't regret my decision. The things I've learned... I digress. The problem has become what to do now. I have perhaps a few years left of my life and I would like to leave behind some kind of legacy. My research... It has gone beyond what man was meant to know so it cannot be that. That leaves my guild. It still operates, mostly my assistants earning money for the purpose of keeping me alive. I offer you the opportunity to join my guild."

The four guests glanced at one another to gauge each others' reactions. None looked overly enthusiastic. The girl spoke, inadvertantly speaking what all of them were thinking. "Thanks but... I'm not a mage, and I'm not too thrilled with pursuing a career in magic research."

"Oh? You misunderstand. Research was the original purpose of the guild. And in that it served it's purpose, so it needs a new one don't you think? What that will be would be up to its members. As for not being a mage... We are in the collective unconscious. I have brought your minds here, where all minds are connected."

Faces appeared around the outside edge of the 'room'. The masked man pointed to each in turn. "Mirajane, of the 'Take-Over Trio' of Fairy Tail." he announced, pointing to a white-haired, angry looking woman, "Totomaru, or 'Totomaru of the Conflagration', fire manipulator of Phantom Lord.", a black and white haired man with markings on his face, "Karen Lilica, celestial spirit mage of Blue Pegasus.", a green haired woman, "'Death God' Erigor, wind mage of Eisenwald.", a sinister looking man with spiky silver hair, "Ul, master of ice creation magic." a dark-haired woman.

"Hold it!" the brown-haired guest interrupted. "I know for a fact that Ul is dead. She died fighting that Deliora monster."

"True. However, her mind remains intact. Such is the true price of using Iced Shell. Were I so inclined, I could summon her mind here. I could summon _any_ of their minds here, and, should they agree, could teach you as you both dream."

Grey hair was convinced. "I accept." He'd already had an interest in magic and wasn't about to let a golden – no, _diamond_ – opportunity slip through his fingers.

"I do too." and "Me too." was said by the pierced boy and the brown-haired boy, respectively.

The girl looked pensive. "You can get anyone to teach me, right?" she asked.

"Provided their minds are alive, I can summon them here, yes. Whether they teach you is up to them." The masked man knew he could force them to agree but he was beyond that now. There was nothing in it for him anymore.

"... Okay. I'm in too." she agreed with a tentative small smile.

"Excellent!" the masked man exclaimed as he clapped his hands together. "Get yourselves to Hargeon. That is where our guild building is located and where you receive your guild marks. We will meet again the next time you dream and your training will begin."

"Welcome to Fate Butterfly."

A/N: Yes, yes. FEShadow, I know. This idea wouldn't leave me alone, and frankly there aren't enough Fairy Tail fics out there. So what we have here is a Personaverse guild. I may include other SMT personalities but they won't be in the guild. Or rather, not in Fate Butterfly. And before you ask, these characters aren't FESverse. I knew you were gonna ask.

What was that? This is just Reapersona with the Fairy Tail universe? Hush you! I'm aware of that. Wanted to write it so I wrote it! Thbbbbt!

This is also another 'when I feel like it' fic like Reapersona. But I actually still feel like it. So I'll keep going for a bit and try to crank out a FEShadow while I'm still on a writing high at some point.

Incidentally, should this be considered a crossover? Technically the characters are the same but the concept of personae would only get a minor nod at points. Not crossover = more readers sooooo... Thoughts?

Thanks for reading!


	2. Aria of the Soul

Walking through the streets of Hargeon, one might actually be surprised to learn that there was in fact a mage guild located there. A beautiful coastal town to be certain, the layered layout allowing those at it's highest point to see the whole town and the ocean beyond in one breathtaking view. One could certainly call that magical, figuratively speaking. But that guild no one had heard of and the one magic shop were the only things in Hargeon that could be described as literally magical.

"Fate Butterfly?" a randomly chosen civilian clarified. "This town actually has a mage guild? Why, I've lived here three years and had no idea!"

Another who overheard added his two jewel. "Oh, yeah! There was a big thing about how the old guildmaster died in an experiment or something. Figured they'd disbanded, myself. Try asking at the magic shop on main street. The owner might know where they are now."

The would-be mage with short grey hair (or silver, as he would vehemently insist) sighed to himself. It seemed he may have miscalculated the value of this guild he'd agreed to join. Upon looking up the name in the guild registry he'd found it _did_ exist and his dream wasn't just a dream. He also found it was quite possibly the most unremarkable guild in Fiore history. 'Best teachers in the world', he reminded himself as he approached the magic shop. 'It'll be worth it.'

And the fact that the mysterious masked man could torture him in his dreams if he backed out now had nothing to do with his determination.

Adjusting the heavy backpack hanging over his shoulder, the grey haired boy entered the magic shop only to stop short at seeing two familiar faces. "Oh? Looks like I wasn't the first one here." he said aloud, getting their attention.

"Eh?" the girl said, her attention diverted from the display of rings she was looking at. "Ah! Naoya, look! It's grey-hair!" she exclaimed, pointing as she nudged the boy with the pierced ear next to her.

"It's _silver_." he gritted out in response as his eyebrow twitched before forcing himself to calm down. "I'm Seta. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Hamuko!" she chirped. "And the guy playing with the colour change magic is Naoya."

Seta glanced at the other boy, noticed his formerly grey outfit was now hot pink and that he was mumbling to himself about 'all the pretty colours' and decided he'd be better off talking to the sane one. "You two found the guild yet then?"

Hamuko shook her head. "Not yet. We were gonna ask the owner of this place but we got..." She glanced at Naoya, his clothes now resembling a rainbow, "distracted."

"Hey, old man! How much is this?" Naoya shouted, grinning.

"4,000 jewel." the shopkeeper answered, not mentioning the extra thousand he added to the price for the 'old man' crack.

"Bargain!" Naoya slammed the money down onto the counter and went back to playing with his new toy.

As the two other prospective guild members watched him, they came to a conclusion. "Creepy mask guy picked the four of us entirely at random, didn't he?" Seta asked, emotionlessly.

"Sure seems like it." Hamuko agreed before both sighed simultaneously and got back to the reason they were in the shop in the first place. "Hey, old man!" she shouted, not noticing his twitch at being called old _again_. "We're looking for the mage guild. Know where it is?"

"Yep. Magnolia. Next train stop to the north. Big building at the centre of town with the words 'Fairy Tail' on the front. Can't miss it."

Seta and Hamuko glanced at each other before Seta tried again. "No... We mean the local guild. Fate Butterfly."

"Ah..." the shop owner murmured, suddenly trading his mild ire for mild depression. "Such a shame what happened to Master Weaver. He was a good sort. Kept to himself mostly but hadn't a bad word to say about anyone. Eh, so why are you three looking for it, if you don't mind my asking?"

"They're recruiting. Us three and one other will be joining." Seta answered.

The shop owner's eyebrows rose at that. "Joining Fate Butterfly? Huh. Well... I hope you kids know what you're doing. The guild building is on the top layer of town, overlooking the west ledge. Building has a butterfly symbol on the front in two colours, white and black split down the middle. Got it?"

"Got it! Thanks, old man!" Hamuko said, ignoring the poor shopkeeper's dismay at being called old again. "Oi, Naoya! C'mon, we'll get something to eat before we heat to the guild!"

"Huh? Oh sure." he answered, following behind the others, trying to figure out how to buy food when he'd just spent the last of his money.

-(-)-

"Oya? Looks like the gang's all here.", a familiar brown-haired boy in a tailored suit greeted the three as they went into the restaurant. "Tatsuya Suou, at your service." he introduced himself with an exaggerated bow.

"Good to put a name to a face." said Seta. "I'm Seta, that's Hamuko and... Naoya, please stop playing with the colour change."

"Nerfen nerhm" Naoya mumbled in response with a dismissive hand gesture. None of them quite knew what Naoya was trying to do at this point. He seemed to be trying to figure out how the device worked but somehow his clothes were still cycling colours. Just about anyone who saw what he was doing decided to give him an extra wide berth from then on, including his companions.

"O... kay. So, food then?" Tatsuya hazarded, trying to look away from the rainbow disaster waiting to happen.

"A-aye..." Seta and Hamuko agreed.

-(-)-

Somewhere in Magnolia, a flying blue cat sneezed.

-(-)-

"So does anyone know anything about magic?" Hamuko asked after their food arrived.

"Mm." Tatsuya agreed while swallowing. "A little. My parents were traders and let me deal with customers once in a while. There was this one guy, had at least one ring on every finger and I, being the very image of a curious eight year old, asked what they were for. By way of answering the question, he gripped one between two fingers and his outfit changed from his travelling clothes to a cheap suit. He explained he was a mage and gave me a quick crash course in what mages do and how they do it. The way he explained it magic is like one of your muscles. Everyone has the potential to use it and if you exercise it properly you can make it better suited to doing certain things. But for the most part, mages are specialised. It's like training to be a body-builder versus a runner. They require completely different conditioning and if you wanted to switch from one to the other it'd be worse than starting from scratch and practically impossible. So you couldn't train to be an ice mage and then suddenly start learning fire magic. Or you could, but your ice magic would be near useless before you even learned anything useful about fire manipulation."

"So when we start training under mask guy, we have to pick something and stick with it?" Seta asked.

"Well... Not necessarily. I figure as long as the fields aren't diametrically opposed-"

"What?" Hamuko interrupted.

"Exact opposites." Seta clarified, to which she nodded in understanding. "So... Something like ice and water magic might work?"

Tatsuya inclined his head. "Or fire and lightning. Sure, I guess. Though we'd be better off asking the people at the guild questions like these instead of a layman like me."

"True." Hamuko agreed with a thoughtful expression. "So any ideas on what you want to learn? I mean we could learn anything, right?"

"Hmm." Seta audibly pondered. "Well I don't know many types beyond what mask guy told us about. And three of those were element users. Spirit mages are those ones that summon things to fight for them. Sounds kind of cowardly to me. And from what little I could find on Take-Over, it has to do with letting your instincts take over to some extent. I'm _really_ not into that at all."

"Ooooh, I thought Take-Over sounded cool." Hamuko pouted. "I agree with the spirit mage thing though. Unless you have a second skill-set to join in with, I guess."

"I like fire." Naoya supplied, terrifying everyone within earshot, _especially_ his companions.

"O-oya. That's... That's great, Naoya." Tatsuya stuttered before shaking off the worrying thoughts that bloomed at that one short sentence. All of Hargeon going up in a blaze in all colours of the rainbow. "A-anyway, I like the idea of ring magic but it's probably not reliable enough. I mean, lose the rings and you lose your power, right? So... something innate to start with and then look into rings as a backup, I think."

-(-)-

"So... This is the guild, huh?" Tatsuya observed, disappointment evident in his tone.

"In fairness, how long ago did mask guy do his thing? Four years?" Seta reminded him.

"Yeah, but would a little maintenance killed them?" Hamuko complained.

"Unlikely. But it would seem a wasted effort when we finally rebuild this place." a new, male voice spoke from behind the four.

As one, they turned to see the owner of the voice. A man in his mid-twenties with short white hair and yellow eyes. His attire was reminiscent of a bellboy, blue suit and tie, white gloves and a blue hat. Under his left arm he carried a thick tome with a star design on the cover.

"Hello. My name is Theodore, a member of the guild. You must be the new recruits we were informed about. Please, come inside. We have much to discuss." Theodore spoke with formality, as though he were actually a greeter for the guild. He walked through a gap in the four to open the door for them and wave them through.

Passing through the entrance and offering a mumbled thank you to Theodore, the four were immediately greeted by beautiful operatic music with a single piano accompaniment. The sounds washed over them and the four visibly relaxed as they continued to listen. Naoya was the first to spot the two performers. In a corner standing next to a piano was a woman – clearly the singer – with greying hair and grey eyes. Sat at the piano was a man, the most striking part of his appearance being the blue blindfold covering his eyes as he continued to play. His blue-black hair was tied into a ponytail and he wore smart casual attire and the top two buttons of his shirt were left open.

As the music continued, the four looked around what would be their new place of employment. It seemed more like a lounge than a place of business which seemed odd to the teens. They hadn't been inside a guild before and had no way to know it was close to the norm. A few couches and a small bar to one side were the sum of furnishings in the room.

The sounds of the music changed. They all noticed it but only Hamuko who had some knowledge of the intricacies of music placed what it was instantly.

'Where did that string quartet come from?'

Turning around, she gasped at what she saw. As the blindfolded man continued to play, the tell-tale circles of magic activation appeared around him. Instruments that previously sat silently during the performance now started to seemingly play _themselves!_ A bow floated into place and draw itself along the strings of a double bass. Another bow did the same with a cello as it balanced itself on its endpin. A violin and viola floated in the air as though being held in the ideal position for invisible players.

Before this moment, Hamuko knew on an intellectual level that she liked magic. It was this force that you could see working everyday that no one could really explain. Basic mechanics of it? Sure. 'Do this to make this happen.' Easy. But _why_ it exists? Where it came from? What causes it? No one could even guess. It was this mysterious power that could make anything happen.

But even in that 'anything' that she imagined, she never even dreamed of being able to create something so beautiful. She closed her eyes and just listened, and was thus lost to the world. She didn't even notice when the piece ended.

"Oya, Hamuko." she heard as a hand touched her shoulder, making her practically jump out of her skin.

"KYA!" she squealed, flinging her arm out at her assailant, bopping Tatsuya on the nose. "Ah... Sorry, Tatsuya." she mumbled guiltily, realising she'd accidentally hit him.

"'Sh fine.", he answered through his hand as he rubbed his nose. "C'mon. Apparently they're bringing the rest of the guild to meet us."

"Alright." she agreed, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

The four situated themselves on one of the larger couches in the room as more people filed into the room. Two women who shared Theodore's hair and eye colour. One also wore a similar outfit to his and had her hair cut short. The other wore more businesslike attire (though still in the same blue colourings) and let her hair hang past her shoulders.

The last one to enter was a strange sight to say the least. An old man. Bald and with an extraordinarily long nose. His dark eyebrows resembled the feathers of a large bird of prey. His eyes were bloodshot, and had dark circles surrounding them, implying some level of insomnia, or overuse of a controlled substance. He wore a formal suit with a string tie and white gloves. His shoulders were constantly hunched over, suggesting he had some spinal problems.

The three and Theodore settled themselves in the couch opposite the four newcomers. The old man spoke first after a few moments, suggesting the others were waiting for him to do so. "Welcome to the Velvet Room, home of the Fate Butterfly mages' guild. My name is Igor, the second guildmaster due to the founder, Philemon Weaver's incapacitation." He introduced himself with a slightly maniacal grin. "To my sides are my grandchildren. You have met Theodore." Theodore, on his left, nodded. "These are Margaret and Elizabeth."

"A pleasure to meet you." the two said in unison. Margaret, the one with longer hair, had a cold, businesslike tone to match her attire. Elizabeth, on the other hand, said it almost flirtatiously.

"Our founder has informed me that you wish to join our guild. Is this still the case?" he asked and received nods in response. "Excellent! Very well, where would you like your guild marks?" he asked as Elizabeth produced a stamp with the guild emblem on it. Seta had it on the left wrist in monochrome black and white, Hamuko on her left hand in purple and yellow, Naoya on his right wrist in red and green and Tatsuya just below his collarbone on the left in blue and orange.

"Wonderful! Now, I'm afraid accommodations aren't exactly high-class at the moment. You'll be staying on the second floor where the laboratory was. We've since cleaned it out but the room is a bit... bare, right now. It should suffice until we can finish raising funds to upgrade this-"

"I GOT IT!" Naoya yelled in triumph, holding his colour change device in the air. Bringing it back down, he activated it and a modified magic circle appeared, the energy not affecting clothes anymore. Instead, the energy spread out around the room. The previously cream and sickly green décor and furnishings changed to a deep blue, identical to the colouring of the clothes of Igor's grandchildren.

Igor started bouncing in his sitting posture and let out a giggle. "Oh, we are going to get along just fine, I think!"

-(-)-

A/N: Yep. Still fun to write this. One more intro chapter, I think. Then we fast-forward four years and see how things are going.

**REVIEWS**

**Xafnir**: This is three years after the dragons disappeared, four years before the start of canon.

… Huh. Shortest review section ever.

Next we have the start of training and a couple of rookie missions. And more recruitment but less in depth than it was for our foolish foursome.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Changing Seasons

"Oya... So... Are we ever gonna have normal dreams again?" Tatsuya asked Philemon as he appeared on what was clearly the masked man's favoured environment. They were all back there again, almost as if they had never left.

"Define 'normal'." the masked man answered. "I'm sure you miss your dreams of... threesomes with twin blondes? Ugh, must you be _so_ cliché?" he asked, rolling his one visible eye. "Regardless, lucid dreams are child's play for me and by the end of your training you'll be just as capable of it based purely on instinct. You could have that dream every night if you wished, though I wager it would get dreadfully boring."

"Pfft. Says you." he quipped back, ignoring the glare he could _feel_ coming from Hamuko.

"A-ny-wayyyy," Philemon sing-songed, "like I said last night, we start your training tonight. So let's split me up," three copies of him walked out of him as though peeling off, "and split you up."

From each dreamers' perspective, it looked as though the others and three of the Philemons vanished.

-(-)-

Hamuko

"So, I see from your mind you've already found a niche you're interested in?"

"'From my mind'?" Hamuko shrieked.

Philemon tilted his head in confusion. "Yeeees? You do recall the part about me being a mind mage? And the thing I did with your well dressed comrade _just now_? Foolish girl, you should pay more attention." he admonished.

Hamuko fought down the urge to snap back at him for insulting her. With a calming breath, she answered the rhetorical question. "What can you tell me about sound magic?"

She couldn't see it, but he was smiling behind his mask. He knew where this was going. "Oh, quite a bit. There is the most straightforward method of course. Using sound waves in various forms to debilitate or deafen a target. More refined methods allow the caster to use sound waves as a concussive or even cutting force. I could look up teachers for you but... I'm fairly certain you've already chosen your own, correct?"

She shuffled her feet a little, but didn't answer.

"I'm sure he'd be delighted to teach you. All that's required is the asking."

"I'd... like to learn from the blindfolded man, please." she requested, embarrassed that she hadn't gotten his name.

Philemon snapped his fingers, purely for the sake of showmanship, and the blindfolded man appeared. Still in his daytime attire.

"Congratulations are in order, Nameless. It seems you have your first apprentice!"

-(-)-

Naoya

"Between you and me," Philemon whispered after the others had gone, "that stunt with the colour magic made you Igor's favourite. He has a bit of a fetish with that particular shade of blue."

Naoya straightened as his heart swelled with pride. It took a lot of work getting that colour thing to do what he wanted. He couldn't stop his clothing from cycling colours afterwards though. It appeared the magic had been used so often in so brief a period on that particular set of clothes that it seeped into the fabric. The fashion conscious would call it a disaster.

Naoya, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

"So!" Philemon shouted, startling Naoya with the abrupt change in volume. "You like colours. And with your worrying announcement as you ate dinner today- yes, yes, mind mage reading your thoughts etcetera." he said, cutting off Naoya's protests before they started. "I just went through this with Hamuko, you'd think one of you would figure it out. _Anyway_, you also like _fire_. Now, spirits have mercy on me for suggesting this but there is a certain branch of fire magic that is, in fact, tailor made for that mindset."

A snap of the fingers, much like with Hamuko's copy, and an image of a familiar man with two-tone hair and facial markings appeared. "Totomaru of the Conflagration! Recently promoted S-Class mage of Phantom Lord! His style of magic is that of Rainbow Fire which includes the manipulation of fire in general and also the creation of seven 'colours' of fire, each with special properties. His style is not rare but his attempt to master each colour is. Many mages who attempt it find they excel in one colour and make due with that. Macao Combolt of Fairy Tail, for example, has gone most of his career only knowing Purple Fire. Not that he hasn't mastered it. We might even be better off having you learn it from him than Totomaru, in fact..."

Philemon pressed a finger into his chin in a thinking pose. "... Thoughts for another day. We'll start with Totomaru to get you in the right mindset for later. Is this agreeable?"

Naoya was nodding so hard he looked like a bobblehead.

"Excellent." Philemon snapped his fingers again and the image of Totomaru was replaced with the _actual_ Totomaru.

-(-)-

Seta

"So I can guess what you'll be into, but just for your own peace of mind, why don't you describe what you're looking for."

Seta assumed a thinking posture as he considered his answer. "Well... I'm not much for running on instinct. Take-Over would be a terrible option. I prefer to use logic to solve my problems to trying to power through them or just winging it and hoping for the best. So something requiring brain power might be a good fit." he mused aloud.

"Brain power, is it? I can work with that. Most forms of magic can be used that way with the noted exception of Take-Over. Here is one you might like though:" Philemon snapped his fingers. An image of a man with long green hair appeared. "Say hello to Freed Justine. Mage of Fairy Tail and self-styled 'Captain' of the Thunder God Tribe. He uses a type of rune magic. If he inscribes an area with runes, anything in that area when they activate has to follow the laws of the runes used. He could make it so those within the area cannot walk, for example. They could still move; crawl, fly, hop, what have you. But not walk. Get the idea?"

"So it's a letter of the law kind of thing? The only way to beat it is to out-think it? I'm liking this more and more. Let's get it started."

"Eager, aren't you? Very well." Another snap of the fingers.

Tatsuya

Philemon stared at Tatsuya.

Tatsuya stared back.

"... No idea." Philemon admitted.

"Oya?" Tatsuya blinked.

"I have no idea. No clue what to have you learn. The others were easy compared to you. So here's what we're going to do." Philemon snapped his fingers and the area was filled with plaques with different names on them. "These are all of the types of magic I know of off the top of my head. Find something that works for you. I'll be around." he said before vanishing.

Tatsuya, still confused, just stood there for a few seconds. 'Okay. I'm sure I can find something in here.'

_Five minutes later_

'Requip? Nah, too dependent on equipment. Rainbow Fire? Tch, bet 10,000 jewel Naoya already started learning that one. Reflector? … Meh, come back to that one.'

_Ten minutes later_

'Heaven's Eye? See through objects?' "Hey, mask guy! I got somethin-"

"Pick something else, pervert!" a disembodied voice spoke.

'Oyaaa... Stingy mentor. Eh?' "Well how about-"

"Heavenly Body magic?" Philemon mused, again taking a human form. "Not a bad choice, actually. Only one major problem, not many people can claim to have mastered this type of magic. In fact, the only one that comes to mind... Eh... We'll, uh, give it a shot. Just try not to sell your soul? As souls go, yours is a decent one." Snap.

Rather than just the prospective teacher appear, Tatsuya also disappeared. The new arrival's eyes widened in recognition. "Well this _is_ a surprise! Philemon Weaver! You know, I heard you died?"

'I must not interfere. Just a mentor now.' Philemon reminded himself. "Hello Siegrain."

-(-)-

Time passed. During the day, small time missions were taken for the sole purpose of renovating the guild building, a small fraction set aside for obtaining magic supplies when they became available. During the nights, the training of the four rookie mages continued and intensified. In the last days of X780, the original building was demolished so the whole thing could be rebuilt from the ground up. In August of X781, the new building was complete and renamed the Velvet Spire. An ostentatious name but at six stories tall it was taller than the majority of buildings in Hargeon.

"Oyaaaaa..." Tatsuya breathed. "It feels good to see it finished, eh?" He looked much the same as he did before, if a bit taller. The only noticeable change was his blue tie replaced by a black one covered in constellations.

"Knowing how much work we put into it." Hamuko added. The only change to her appearance was a black rectangular box she carried at her hip. It held a simple flute, not magical at all as her style didn't require it to be.

"Let's not forget how we can sleep in real beds again soon." Seta pointed out. He was noticeably taller, now equalling Tatsuya's height. The only addition to his outfit was a pair of glasses, enchanted for speed reading and viewing dormant rune clusters. It wouldn't do to get caught in your own trap because you forgot it was there, after all.

"Mm." Naoya nodded, verbose as always. He still wore the same colour changing clothes despite how many people begged him not to.

"Ah, that sense of accomplishment. It really is a wonderful feeling, don't you think?" Igor observed as he walked up to them.

"Master Igor! You're back already?" Seta asked.

Igor chuckled. "Yes. The Guild Masters' meeting really wasn't what I was expecting. It may well be the strangest gathering of people I have ever been invited to! Ah, incidentally, Master Makarov of Fairy Tail has been made aware of the very strange dreams one of his mages is having." Seta paled at that. Having Makarov Dreyar pissed at you was near enough a death sentence. "It didn't come off as a complaint, more a warning not to get carried away." Seta released the breath he hadn't realised he was holding and nodded in understanding. "Come, let's get inside so you can show me around, yes?"

Beaming smiles all around answered him and the four teens practically dragged the old man through the front door.

"This is the only room that's been decorated so far. Margaret told us to leave the other floors alone until you got back." Hamuko explained. The teens missed the conspiratorial smirk exchanged between Igor and Margaret behind the bar. "It's pretty much the same except with the extra space we got, we moved the sitting area towards the back. That way we could have a regular bar atmosphere in front of the stage."

"Very nice! Much better for when we expand our numbers." Igor observed. "And I expect to see you performing on that stage at some point, Hamuko." The girl seemed to both pale and blush at that to the guildmaster's amusement. "Now, let's get to how we're going to decorate the upper floors." He beckoned his grandchildren over to watch. Nameless listened from his piano stool, knowing this would be a nice moment for his apprentice.

"Do you remember the question Master Weaver asked you in your very first dream?" Igor asked the teens.

It was months ago, so the four could be forgiven for having to think for a minute. Naoya remembered first. "Fate." Seta snapped his fingers (having taken the habit from Philemon) and pointed at Naoya, acknowledging the correct answer.

"Correct! Did you know you all answered that question differently? 'Do you believe in fate?' He asked me that once as well, a long time ago. Care to guess my answer?"

Naoya didn't need to think about it. "Yes." he answered.

Igor chuckled. "It would be odd for a master of Tarot Magic to believe otherwise, wouldn't it? Yes, I believe in fate in both heart and mind. I believe it was fate that Master Weaver chose you four and I believe it is fated that you four who will do great things here."

"Each of the next four floors will belong to each of you."

No one said anything. The four of them just stood there, gaping at him, not knowing what to say to that. So Igor kept talking. "I recommend keeping space open for new recruits, of course. You will be forming teams of your own through any new applicants we receive. Those in your team will be staying on your floor but you will be in charge. Decorate it how you like. Master Weaver will be housed in the basement away from prying eyes and mine and my grandchildren's quarters will be on the sixth floor. That is also where mpfmffmph"

The guildmaster was interrupted by a group hug from four teenagers overwhelmed by how much trust he was placing in them. 'Heeheeee! Hamuko is developing quite nicely!' he thought as he felt the girl's breasts rub against his bald head.

A few seconds later, the hug broke and Igor was allowed to continue. "Er-hehem. Where was I? Oh, yes. The sixth floor is also where the S-class request board will be. So you had best have a good reason for going up there. Understood?" Nods all around. "Good. Now, I have one more gift for you."

Igor pulled out his personal deck of tarot cards. The four had seen them before and despite looking, could not find a similar deck anywhere. They decided, and were in fact correct, that Igor had made the deck himself. Igor took the top four cards and on each one, traced the face design on the back with a finger. Each time he did, a magic circle would activate and he would pull a translucent replica from each card. Having finished this process, he replaced the solid cards into the deck (at random), and put the deck away. Turning over and fanning out the translucent cards, his ever-present grin grew wider.

"Most intriguing! If I didn't know any better I would say someone had been playing with my cards!" Igor chuckled. "Here. One for each of you. Philemon will likely explain to you what exactly they are," he said, "but, for now, suffice to say they are a welcome gift for the first mages of Fate Butterfly; our four Aces."

The newly dubbed 'Aces' were still trying to decide whether Igor stacked the deck for that stunt. Then Seta's brain caught up to Igor's words. "Wait, first? What about Master Philemon? Or you? Or Margaret, Theodore and-"

Igor cut him off. "Master Weaver was always master, never mage. He only started the guild for the added freedoms it offered. A nice loophole for research purposes. So... There was no need for any of us to take the mark. I did so only the day before you arrived to become the second master, again, never mage. And my grandchildren never really needed to take the mark. If they wish to do so now, that is their decision and is left with them."

The feel-good atmosphere was more or less killed with that. Knowing that the three siblings that the teenagers had gotten to know so well could leave at any time brought them down hard. That is, until Tatsuya decided to sum up their collective feelings on the matter. "You all know we'd love it if you'd stay. But if you'd rather leave... you better believe we'll miss you. And you damn well better visit sometimes!"

…

A gloved hand grabbed for the butterfly stamp sitting on the bar. "To hell with it!" a feminine voice said as she planted the stamp on her left shoulder.

"Liz, what are you-" Margaret whispered but was cut off.

"I like it here, I want to stay here. Why make it more complicated than that?" Elizabeth asked her sister. Theodore thought over this reasoning, nodded, took the stamp from his sister, unbuttoned his shirt collar and placed the stamp on his neck.

Everyone present stared at Margaret, save Nameless who was listening _very_ intently. Eventually she sighed and took the stamp from Theodore mumbling about 'damn peer pressure'. Her true feelings however, were betrayed by the hint of a smile on her face. Unbuttoning her right sleeve, she placed the stamp on her outer forearm.

Were Igor capable of it, he would've been weeping at that moment. "I have never been prouder of you three."

-(-)-

Two months passed. Gradually, word started to spread about the 'new' upstart guild in the area, right down the rail line from Fairy Tail. It wasn't long before Sorcerer Magazine got wind of these rumours and sent someone to get the first interviews with members of Fate Butterfly.

The articles that resulted from this were not received well by some. Or rather one.

"What the hell is this?" Hamuko screeched, waving the copy of Sorcerer Magazine in the air as she read from it. "Under Master Igor, the first four mages to join this fresh new guild were the so-called 'Four Aces'. Four rookie mages who, from what we here at SM understand, 'felt something calling them to the guild'. Eldest among them is Tatsuya Suou, 16, user of Heavenly Body magic, much like Siegrain of the Ten Wizard Saints. In this reporter's opinion, this is a case where the magic fits the man." Hamuko finished reading, deadpan.

"Tatsuya couldn't stop grinning. "Oya, what can I say? I must just have that raw animal magnetism you hear about."

Hamuko glared at him before continuing. "Next up is Seta Souji, 15. Turns out he's taking the more intellectual approach to magic with scripts and runecrafting. With his glasses, grey hair and smart casual attire, he manages to somehow look roguish, distinguished and _delicious_ all at once!"

"It's SILVER!" Seta shouted.

"No it's NOT!" Hamuko shouted back. "And shut up, she's saying you're hot too!"

Seta opened his mouth to retort but paused. "... Oh, yeah, she is, isn't she?" he finished with a grin matching Tatsuya's.

Hamuko's teeth could be heard grinding together. "Third up is Naoya Todo, 14 and youngest mage in Fate Butterfly. He uses the Rainbow Fire style, the very style used by Phantom Lord's Totomaru of the Conflagration. I'll just say his attire fits his style and he is looking _fabulous_!"

'She thinks I'm gay.' Naoya thought to himself, his head slamming into the bar and just laying there.

Hamuko took a sense of satisfaction from Naoya's depression before finishing her reading. "Finally, we have Hamuko Arisato, 15 and user of Sound Magic." A pause. "That's it."

Seta nodded. "Straight and to the point. I like it."

"!" Hamuko screamed soundlessly, flinging the magazine in Seta's general direction.

-(-)-

Despite Hamuko's dissatisfaction with the article, it did help spread the word about the guild, both for potential job offers and potential members. One after another, they came...

"Such a deep, mesmerising blue. Like an iris. Faith, courage and wisdom." Jun Kurosu observed. "I like it here already."

"Man, this place has a bar? Awesome!" Mark Inaba shouted as he entered.

"Yes, this place suits my purposes." Kei Nanjo stated.

Over a span of three years, the guild's roster expanded...

"Aaaaaah, Tatsuyaaaa!" Lisa Silverman shouted as she saw and subsequently tackled the object of her affections.

"H-hello? Am I in the right place?" Fuuka Yamagishi timidly asked as she walked in.

"I must say I approve. This room has a nice atmosphere. Trés bien." Mitsuru Kirijo complimented.

"Woo! Finally made it! Start the party, flutterbyes! Risette has arrived!" Risette Kujikawa announced.

"Not what I was expecting from a guild this new." Natalie Shirogane stated as she stood outside the guild. "I'm pleasantly surprised."

Until...

-(-)-

X784

"Yo, Ace! We got a problem!" Yosuke Hanamura shouted as he continued to bang on Seta Souji's door.

"What is it?" Seta's mumbled, sleepy response came back.

"Iori just got back in. He heard some girls talking. They said Salamander's in town!"

-(-)-

A/N: This chapter took me six hours. Might be a new personal best for me. I am having way too much fun with this.

Point the first: Yes, Mitsuru speaks a bit of French in this chapter. Call it a generic foreign language in the the FT universe (Minsish or whatever) and move on!

Point the second: Earthland names are not exclusively Japanese. In fact, Natsu is one of the very few examples. So expect different names when I can get away with it (Masao = Mark, Rise = Risette, Naoto = … I cheated and used SamJaz' name).

**REVIEWS!**

**Engineer4ever**: Some were obvious. Some not. Tatsuya really did stump me for a while since I was dead set on Naoya using Rainbow Fire. But Tatsuya also gets a little spell called Freila...

**Xafnir**: All characters? I hope you're not including S-links in that 'all' because that would be a terrifying proposition. All party members should make an appearance but some might be late to the party. As for the timeline stuff, you were right but... Well it's a bit of a non-issue now, no?

Alllllllright, we are now officially at canon day one!

Thanks for reading!


	4. Living with Determination

At the name 'Salamander', Seta, Fate Butterfly's Ace of Swords, was instantly awake. At 'in town' the most calm and calculating of the Aces was on the verge of full-on panic mode. Anyone who watched him dress would assume he had a spell to do it so fast. He considered strapping on his sword but decided this wasn't technically an enemy he was going to meet. He wrenched open the door to see the worried face of Yosuke. "Details."

"That's all we have. Risette's looking up jobs he might be on that'd bring him to the area but she's coming up empty." Yosuke informed him.

Seta left his room and started walking to the stairs, Yosuke following behind him. Seta had taken the 5th floor of the Velvet Spire and true to Igor's suggestion, he decorated it how he wanted. The walls were painted yellow and the floor made up of rhomboid chequered tiles in black and white. The circular sitting area lay in the centre of the floor. On one side were the stairs up and down, on the others were doors to each member's private quarters, Seta's being exactly opposite the stairs. On a wall next to Risette's room was a desk, designed for comfortable use of Risette's Archive magic, the magic she was currently using to find out why the hell Natsu Dragneel was in town.

"Alright, Risette, relay anything you find out to Fuuka and she'll get it to me." Seta ordered.

"Got it, boss!" Risette chirped in response.

Yosuke stopped at the stairs as Seta headed down to the 4th floor, Hamuko's floor. Music and time being her chosen theme. The walls were an opal green colour. Clocks of various designs lined the walls. The clocks would likely be making a cacophony of sound were they not kept precisely in time with an almost religious fervour. The noise irritated newcomers for the first few weeks but eventually they found they had trouble sleeping _without_ the constant ticking rhythm.

Junpei Iori had done a fantastic job of acting like a panicky idiot and had woken most of his floor. This suited Seta just fine as he zeroed in on Fuuka. "Fuuka, keep a telepathic link open to me." he spoke firmly as he continued down the stairs.

Fuuka looked at Hamuko, Fate Butterfly's Ace of Cups, who nodded. Only then did she answer with a semi-confident cry of "Y-yes!"

Hamuko didn't like the strange 'crusade' Seta was on, but she decided to humour him, for now at least.

On down to the 3rd floor, Tatsuya's floor. Unsurprisingly, Tatsuya's floor was decorated to slightly resemble the sky. Rather than just having it be constellations adorning the walls, however, he had decided on a sunset view. One side of the room was covered in clouds of oranges reds and yellows and the further away you got from it, the more clearly the stars could be seen.

Seta made a detour to Tatsuya's door since the lazy moron was still asleep. "Oi, Tatsuya!" Seta shouted as he knocked loudly on the door.

"Oyaaa... Wha' zut?" Tatsuya's mumble came back as he opened the door.

"We have a Class F situation on our hands." Tatsuya's expression perked up a bit at that. "Salamander's supposedly in town. We need your Pervert's Eye to help find him."

Tatsuya, Fate Butterfly's Ace of Coins, grabbed the bridge of his nose and tried to shake off some of his tiredness. "It's called 'Heaven's Eye'."

"And you use it to be a pervert. You know if you teach it to me I'll get off your back about it." Seta offered.

"We've been over this. It won't work with your... thingy eye." Tatsuya responded.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." Seta pressed.

"No, it's not."

Seta sighed. "... No, it's not. Alright fine, meet me downstairs in five minutes."

On down to the second floor, Naoya's floor. Now, it wouldn't take a psychic to guess what Naoya would base his decorating style on. However, it wasn't just walls painted in rainbow colours like one would assume. The colours were there, certainly, but they seemed to fade into each other, much like the sunset colours did on Tatsuya's floor. Naoya had also decided to add four decorative pillars identical to those they had seen in Philemon's realm.

As usual, Naoya, Fate Butterfly's Ace of Wands, was awake and downstairs before anyone else so Seta continued down to the 1st floor, unchanged from how it was three years previous. "Oi, rainbow man! You hear from Iori?" Seta asked Naoya who was sitting at the bar eating breakfast. Naoya nodded in response. "Good. Salamander. He's a fire mage so you'll be on the hunt with me and Tatsuya. Sound good?" Naoya nodded again.

"I don't see what the big deal is about this guy." Kanji Tatsumi complained from a nearby table. "I mean sure he's a Fairy Tail mage but they can't all be that bad, right?"

"Let me put this in perspective. Most unnecessarily destructive mages I've ever heard of? It goes Gildarts Clive, then _this guy_." It was at this moment that Tatsuya came down. "Ready to go?" Seta asked.

With the nodding response, the three left for their lizard hunt.

-(-)-

Lucy Heartfillia was in a good mood. She'd just found that one Celestial Gate Key she was looking for in the only magic shop in town. It was even a steal at 12,000 jewel! Lucky!

Little did she know the only reason it was that cheap was the shopkeeper was sick of seeing it in the display. None of his usual customers were going to buy it, after all. And he was making so much more money with the special orders the guild were asking for! Eight pairs of rune-reading glasses didn't come cheap, after all!

The sound of a crowd of screaming girls interrupted Lucy's self-congratulating thoughts. Only then did she notice groups of teen girls running past her talking about seeing the 'famous mage, Salamander'. She knew that name! He was the one who did that amazing fire magic they don't sell in stores!

Mind made up, she joined the crowds running to meet him.

Meanwhile, the three hunting Aces were situating themselves on a rooftop they climbed using Naoya's Purple Fire Net. Master Philemon really had made the right call in having him learn that particular magic from Macao. Seta and Naoya waited patiently while Tatsuya scanned the town with his Heaven's Eye.

It didn't take long to find their target. Tatsuya just scanned for large crowds and found the right one almost immediately. "Oya, Seta? We know what this guy looks like, right?"

Seta looked up from the book he was reading and nodded. "Yeah. Pink hair, fangs, white scarf with a scale-like pattern, black vest, usually seen with a weird blue cat. Why, you found him?"

Tatsuya sighed. "Right. So does a guy with blue hair and a purple cape signing 'Salamander' autographs mean what I think it means?"

Seta raised an eyebrow before palming his face. "If you think it means we get to kick Junpei's ass for sending us on a wild goose chase, then yeah, it means what you think it means." 'Fuuka, tell Risette she can relax. It was a false alarm.'

Tatsuya had stopped searching. So he never saw the buxom blonde girl push her way into the crowd of fangirls. Nor did he see a pink haired boy do the same thing. A pink haired boy with fangs, a white scarf with a scale-like pattern, black vest and a weird blue cat following him.

-(-)-

Later that night

"Hey, boss?" Risette spoke from her desk in the 5th floor common room.

"What's up, Risette?" Seta responded from where he was laying on a couch with his book.

"You remember that thing with the fake Salamander earlier?"

Seta chuckled. "I try to have a better memory than to forget things that happened less than twelve hours ago. Why?"

"Well... I had a bad feeling. So I asked Tatsuya for a better description so I could look him up." she explained. "I, uh, I found him." Risette swallowed before continuing. "His name is Bora. Or 'Bora of Prominence'. He was kicked out of his guild for thievery and using illegal magic like 'Charm'. He's..." She swallowed again, before finishing in a small voice. "He's a suspected slave trader."

Any sound in the room died at that announcement. Seta blinked.

Once.

Twice.

He'd let a slave trader go.

"SHIT!" he yelled, flinging his book into a wall, the resulting bang getting the attention of the whole floor. "Yosuke, Natalie! Get out here! We're going hunting!"

-(-)-

No one would accuse Seta Souji of being the most cheerful member of Fate Butterfly but it was still a rare thing to see him genuinely angry. So when he came through, practically snarling in poorly contained rage and started picking people to follow him, no one argued. In addition to Yosuke and Natalie, Jun was chosen to follow, as well as Naoya since even if Bora was a fraud, he was still likely a fire mage.

The next half hour was spent asking people in town if they knew where to find 'Salamander'. It was shown to be pointless when streams of pink fire shot into the sky out at sea and exploded like a firework. 'Right. Slave trader. So if he was looking for 'merchandise', he wouldn't want to move it over land where it could be easily intercepted.' Seta reasoned to himself. The five mages could still see the ship but needed a way for all of them to reach it. "Any ideas?" Seta asked the others.

"I don't think anyone in the guild could get us all the way out there, Ace." Youske stated solemnly.

"Ms. Kirijo, perhaps." Natalie suggested. "Though for this distance..." she trailed off.

Seta considered it. "... Okay. Here's the plan. We get Mitsuru, get as close as we can, Yosuke disables the ship and we board it. It's risky but we don't... have..." Seta also trailed off as he saw a swirling mass of water rise above the sea. "That's... bad." He glanced towards the harbour where dockworkers where finishing a shift. "_Very_ bad. Yosuke, get a counter ready for that wave!"

With that, Seta ran towards the docks, yelling at anyone he came across to get to higher ground. With precious few seconds left, he stopped at the end of the first pier he came across and started inscribing a rune set. It basically translated to 'water cannot rise beyond this point' and set it to cover the area around the harbour, adding any caveats that came to mind that would ruin the set if not included. In a way, it worked just as Seta wanted it to which shocked him to his core as he looked back on the slapdash inscription. The enormous wave that threatened to wash anyone on the docks into the ocean was stopped in it's tracks by an invisible wall.

But the ship was still free to pass through. And it did, ten feet in the air thanks to the sudden disappearance of the wave it was riding on.

This was where Yosuke came in from his position further along towards the beach. "I'm not ready for crap like this, dammit!" he growled as he prepared one of his newer spells. As the ship landed in the water again, he cast his first spell. Slamming his hands together, he called out "Wind Palm!" as a miniature tornado struck the bow of the ship head on. Three more of these had well and truly destroyed the front-most part of the ship. However, it had also bled off most of the ship's momentum, allowing it to grind to a complete halt on the beach to the west of Hargeon. Yosuke was conscious long enough to see his success before passing out from exhaustion with a smile on his face.

Seta watched all this with raised eyebrows. 'Maybe Igor gave me the wrong card. Fortune would've been a better fit, surely.' He watched the others who were standing by head towards the beached ship and shrugged. 'Time to go meet a slave trader.'

-(-)-

Naoya was surprised by the presence of the three people still conscious in the area. First there was the blonde in the water with a cat and a mermaid. 'Probably a celestial spirit. Aquarius? Impressive if it is, for a spirit mage, at least.' Next was Bora of Prominence, himself, looking pissed. And then there was-

"Are you a mage of Fairy Tail?"

Natsu Dragneel. The Salamander.

'Well _of course_ the real one shows up.' Naoya griped inwardly. 'I don't know whether Seta is gonna be more or less pissed when he finds out.'

"So what if I am?" Bora yelled back at the pink haired mage as his flunkies started coming around.

'And now the henchmen are back in it. We need to nip this in the bud.' As Natsu threw off his coat, Naoya looked at Jun. "Tie them down."

Jun nodded. Running a finger down the rose he was carrying, he threw it at the henchmen crowding around Bora. "Rose Restraints!" As the rose neared its target, its length extended to fifty times normal and coiled around the gathered mooks, effectively neutralising them for the time being.

Bora looked in the direction the rose came from and sneered. "Keh. The Butterfly Brigade. Here I was hoping you wouldn't notice. You really think you can hold a fire mage with plants?" he asked, preparing a spell.

"No." answered Natalie from a short distance behind Bora, having used Jun's spell as a distraction. Raising her revolver, "Spark Shot!", she fired a single shot at each of the five henchman and Bora, the spell activating and sending thousands of volts of electricity through all of them. With a grunt of shock, they fell to the ground, temporarily paralysed.

"Oi! What the hell!" Natsu shouted. "I was gonna kick that guy's ass!"

"Oh, you knew he was a slaver, then?" Seta asked as he arrived at the scene. "I'll be honest, I was wondering why you were here."

"Huh? He was sayin' he's a Fairy Tail mage! I can't forgive anyone who says they're from Fairy Tail so I'm gonna kick his ass!" Natsu again shouted, his fist lighting on fire. As soon as it did, it swung directly at Natsu's own face for some reason.

'Ah, so much for that small amount of respect I almost had for him.' Seta thought as he adjusted his glasses. "I see... Well it doesn't matter now. In a few hours he'll be convicted as slaver scum by the proper authorities. _Those_ proper authorities." he said, pointing behind him at the soldiers coming into view. "I bet they'll have some questions about that tidal wave that nearly destroyed the docks."

Seta hadn't even finished the sentence before the pink haired dragon slayer was being dragged away by the drenched blonde girl.

-(-)-

Even later that night

"_Have to... get out..."_ Seta mumbled as he tossed and turned in his sleep. _"Please... coming... can't stay here... get out! Get out get out GET OUT!_ MOM!" Seta finished, shouting as he woke up from his nightmare.

'Dammit. Again?' Seta complained inwardly, donning slippers and a robe and heading downstairs. 'Why'd I pick the 5th floor again? Oh, yeah. Good exercise. Tch. Makes late night trips to the bar a pain in the ass though.'

"My assumption you would have one tonight was correct then." Margaret spoke from behind the bar as she saw Seta reach the bottom of the stairs.

Seta blinked away some of his bleary vision before answering. "One? One what? I don't know what you're talking about." he lied.

"Your room might be soundproofed now, but it wasn't when you first moved in. We all know about your nightmares." she explained, her voice softer than usual.

Seta tried not to let his embarrassment show as he sat at the bar. "Fine."

Margaret automatically poured him a drink. The kind anyone other than Seta would liken to paint thinner in flavour. "Want to talk about them?"

Seta knocked the drink back in one go. "No." he answered flatly before offering his glass for a refill.

She gave him one. "... Want to talk about today? You should feel proud. I heard Hamuko even apologised for complaining about your Class F protocols." she finished, smirking.

That was true. Hell, she even thanked him for it, saying if he hadn't set them up, a lot of innocent people might've died and the guild would be partly to blame, it happening right under their noses.

"Honestly, I don't know how to feel about today." Seta admitted. "Sure, if I hadn't set up the protocols, we wouldn't have seen Bora. But that wouldn't mean anything unless Risette went the extra mile like she did. And even _then_ the only reason we even _caught_ Bora was because a stupid, reckless spirit mage almost killed a bunch of people."

Margaret thought over what she could say to that for a short while. She settled on, "Maybe we shouldn't talk about today after all. You're clearly thinking about it too much already."

Seta chuckled mirthlessly. "Heheh, thinking is my thing, remember? It's what I do."

Margaret sighed. "Well, allow me to tell you what _I_ think. I think your preparedness allowed us to save a group of girls from a fate worse than death. I think you have a team who will _always_ go the extra mile when they know it's the right thing to do. And most of all, I think we got very, _very_ lucky."

"Lucky." Seta deadpanned.

"That's right." Margaret confirmed. "Lucky. You can't fix everything, Seta. You can plan, you can prepare, but sometimes it won't be enough and you have to hope things turn out alright. And if they don't, you'll have nothing to feel guilty about because you did _everything_ you could. Was what that girl did stupid? Yes. Was it reckless? Absolutely. But in the end, the result was a good one."

Seta was not pleased by that. "You think that was-!"

"No, I'm not saying what she did was right." she denied patiently. "But she did it, and it turned out fine. So for today, maybe you could accept that luck was on our side."

"We can't rely on luck." Seta stated.

"Of course not. We rely on what we have and what we do. Luck is just a nice bonus."

-(-)-

A/N: By GOD did this chapter turn out angsty! I don't know what it is about Seta but whenever I write him he turns out angsty for some reason! He's a blank slate, he shouldn't always turn out like that!

Rest assured the angst-master won't be the focus too often. I did centre the story around the _four_ Aces, after all. Next time we have Hamuko going on her first S-Class adventure to a certain island...

Also, you may have noticed I don't like Lucy much. I don't. She constantly gets handed these one-of-a-kind magical keys on a silver platter and she's still barely competent. Karen Lilica was a famous spirit mage with _two _of the zodiac keys. Lucy currently has _TEN_ and _still_ wins her fights with dumb luck half the time... I'll stop ranting now. I'll try not to bash on her much in story if I can avoid it.

**REVIEWS!**

**Xafnir**: Persona users? Definitely. S-Links and others? Probably not. Definitely not from P1&2 since I haven't played them. Maybe some cameos from 3 and 4 but it's not particularly likely.

**CleanUp**: Thankee muchly.

**Engineer4ever**: Oh, I have some ideas.

Haah, right, next chapter won't be angsty. I promise. Oh, wait... Gray's backstory is in the next arc, isn't it? Okay, if the next chapter is angsty it will not be my fault. Better?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I probably ignored physics for some of this chapter. So I'll leave the obligatory 'a wizard did it' notice here. Buh-bye now!


	5. FATE BUTTERFLY GUILD ROSTER

**FATE BUTTERFLY GUILD ROSTER**

**Masters**

1st Master: Philemon Weaver  
Born: March 1st, X756  
Master from: X770 - X776  
Magic: Mind Magic (master)  
Appearance: Copper eyes, long black-red hair, pale skin. Often seen wearing a white mask.  
History: Philemon Weaver was the founder of the Fate Butterfly mage guild, primarily for the purposes of his own research. Assisted by his mentor, Igor Djungvral, he attempted to go further in the field of mind magic by trying to see into the 'collective unconscious', what he theorised to be the place where all minds connect. An accident during an experiment left him in a vegetative state. He is kept alive and cared for within the guild to this day.

2nd Master: Igor Djungvral  
Aliases: 'Wild Card Igor', 'Igor the Fate Reader'  
Born: September 17th, X722  
Master from: X780 – Present  
Magic: Card Magic: Tarot (master), Mind Magic (proficient), various novice spells  
Appearance: Bloodshot eyes, balding, pale skin. Particularly long nose, deformed ears.  
History: Once a member of a prominent guild, Igor had to give up his career as an ordinary mage after the tragic death of his son and daughter-in-law. Needing a more stable income to care for his three grandchildren, Igor offered his services as an assistant to Weaver in his reearch. After Weaver's accident, Igor and his grandchildren continued to care for him until Igor took the Master position himself, claiming the mind mage would want to leave something worthwhile behind after his passing.

**S-Class Mages**

Name: Tatsuya Suou  
Aliases: 'Ace of Coins', 'Starfire Tatsuya'  
Born: September 28th, X765  
S-Class: March 1st, X782  
Magic: Heavenly Body Magic (proficient), Heaven's Eye (amateur)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, brown hair, pale skin. Wears a constellation necktie. _Very_ occassionally wears box-frame glasses.  
History: In X779, Tatsuya's parents – traders by profession – went on an expedition to Bosco and did not return. Tatsuya and his elder brother Katsuya kept themselves afloat by selling off one of the businesses their parents owned and running the other themselves. They did well enough. However, neither brother wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps. When Tatsuya was 'called' to Fate Butterfly it was exactly what they needed. Selling the business the brothers split the proceeds, Katsuya joined the Fiore military as he had intended and Tatsuya joined Fate Butterfly.

Name: Naoya Todo  
Aliases: 'Ace of Wands', 'Rainbow Mage Naoya'  
Born: December 4th, X766  
S-Class: March 1st, X782  
Magic: Rainbow Fire Magic: Blue Fire (amateur), Orange Fire (amateur), Red Fire (proficient), Green Fire (proficient), Purple Fire (expert). Colour Magic (expert)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, mid-length black feathered hair, tan skin. Has a piercing in his left ear. Wears rainbow clothing.  
History: Not much is known about Naoya's history. Some of his guildmates theorise he is a foreigner. Others believe he doesn't know, himself. Regardless, Naoya doesn't seem interested in talking about it.

Name: Seta Souji  
Aliases: 'Ace of Swords'  
Born: February 8th, X766  
S-Class: March 1st, X783  
Magic: Dark Ecriture (expert), Solid Script (novice)  
Appearance: Grey eyes, grey 'silver' bowl-cut hair, pale skin. Constantly wears a pair of grey, box-frame glasses and clothes with a chequer pattern.  
History: Seta Souji lost both of his parents by age seven. His father died due to illness. His mother, collateral damage in a mage battle when their home was destroyed by a rogue spell. Getting by on the kindness of strangers for two years, he was then taken in by another family who took pity on him. While Seta was grateful to them, he constantly felt he didn't belong so he surpressed his emotions to hide this, feeling that they had already done more than enough for him. When he was 'called' to Fate Butterfly, Seta left without a word, writing a simple 'thank you' note and a blank I.O.U. A fraction of the reward of every job he takes is sent back to that family and likely he will continue to do so until he feels the debt is paid.

Name: Hamuko Arisato  
Aliases: 'Ace of Cups'  
Born: April 1st, X766  
S-Class: March 1st, X784  
Magic: Sound Magic (expert), Requip (amateur)  
Appearance: Red eyes, auburn hair in a ponytail, pale skin. Always carries a case holding one of her instruments.  
History: Hamuko quite possibly had it the easiest of the current S-Class mages of Fate Butterfly before joining. From a typical family, she always had an interest in music and was seriously considering pursuing a career as a musician, already being a talented violinist. When she was 'called' to Fate Butterfly, she was not entirely sold on the idea of becoming a mage until she saw a master performance of Sound Magic. She still keeps in contact with her family, often using the Telepathy magic of one of her team members to speak directly with her twin brother Minato.

**Other Mages**

**Coin Team** (led by Tatsuya Suou)

Name: Lisa Silverman  
Magic: Earth Magic (novice), Illusion Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Blue eyes, blonde hair, pale skin.

Name: Jun Kurosu  
Magic: Plant Magic (amateur) Requip (novice) Slowing Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, black-brown hair parted over one eye, pale skin. Often carries a flower.

Name: Eikichi Mishina  
Magic: Ring Magic (amateur, 4 rings)  
Appearance: Orange eyes, blue hair in a coif, very pale skin.

Name: Yukino Mayuzumi  
Magic: Fire Magic (amateur), Lightning Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, short black hair, tan skin.

**Wand Team** (led by Naoya Todo)

Name: Maki Sonomura  
Magic: Pict Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Light brown eyes, long brown hair tied with a red ribbon, pale skin.

Name: Mark Inaba  
Magic: Requip (amateur)  
Appearance: Orange eyes, grey(?) hair covered by a yellow beanie, tan skin.

Name: Kei Nanjo  
Magic: Celestial Spirit Magic (amateur, 2 silver keys)  
Appearance: Grey eyes, black hair in a ponytail style, tan skin. Wears a blue scarf with '1' printed on it. Wears circular-frame glasses.

Name: Eriko Kirishima  
Magic: Healing Magic (novice), Guns Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Black eyes, long black-purple hair in a ponytail, light tan skin. Wears an orange scarf around her neck.

**Sword Team** (led by Seta Souji)

Name: Yosuke Hanamura  
Magic: Wind Magic (amateur)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, unkempt light brown hair, pale skin. Constantly wears a fur-lined ski jacket. Often wears brown box-frame glasses.

Name: Risette Kujikawa  
Magic: Archive Magic (proficient), Telepathy (novice)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, red-brown hair in pigtails, tan skin. Often wears pink oval-frame glasses.

Name: Kanji Tatsumi  
Magic: Titan Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Grey eyes, bleach blond hair swept back in a crew-cut, pale skin. Often wears oval-frame sunglasses.

Name: Natalie Shirogane  
Magic: Guns Magic (proficient)  
Appearance: Blue eyes, shrot blue hair, light tan skin. Often wears light blue oval-frame glasses.

Name: Teddie Bearshadow  
Magic: Take-Over (amateur, 2 forms)  
Appearance: Blue eyes, blonde feathered hair, pale skin. Always wears a rose on his clothing.

**Cup Team** (led by Hamuko Arisato)

Name: Mitsuru Kirijo  
Magic: Water Magic (amateur)  
Appearance: Red eyes, long red hair, pale skin. Carries a rapier on her left hip.

Name: Junpei Iori  
Magic: Crush (amateur)  
Appearance: Grey eyes, brown hair with a goatee, pale skin. Constantly wears a blue cap.

Name: Fuuka Yamagishi  
Magic: Telepathy (proficient), Glass Creation Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Brown-grey eyes, medium short teal hair, pale skin. Occassionally wears teal oval-frame glasses.

Name: Akihiko Sanada  
Magic: Lightning Magic (novice), Slowing Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Grey eyes, short silver hair, pale skin. Wears a plaster over his left eye.

**Inactive**

Name: Elizabeth Djungvral  
Magic: Card Magic (expert)  
Appearance: Yellow eyes, short white hair, very pale skin. Wears a blue attendant style hat.

Name: Theodore Djungvral  
Magic: Card Magic (proficient)  
Appearance: Yellow eyes, short white hair, very pale skin. Wears a blue attendant style hat.

Name: Margaret Djungvral  
Magic: Card Magic (proficient)  
Appearance: Yellow eyes, long white hair in a blue headband, very pale skin.

Name: Ken Amada  
Magic: Magnet Magic (novice)  
Appearance: Brown eyes, brown hair in a side parting, pale skin.

-(-)-

A/N: Alright, it was brought to my attention that something like this might be useful for people who aren't familiar with the characters (that'd be... just about everyone except those who read my other stories). If you absolutely must know exactly what these characters look like, go to:

megamitensei wikia com

and search the character name. Should work with all of them except Philemon, Igor and his family don't really have last names and Natalie Shirogane is really Naoto Shirogane. Anyone else's name will either take you right to their page or is close enough that their page will be the first search result.

Also, this is the _current_ roster. New characters will be joining later.

Alright! _Now_ the next chapter will bring us the next arc... or possibly an interlude for the aftermath of the Eisenwald stuff that FB have nothing to do with. Or both. I dunno, we'll see.

**REVIEWS!**

**Engineer4ever**: I figure that's mostly because they've always had Siegrain and other guy going to bat for them with the council. We haven't seen the new council's reaction to a Fairy rampage yet. I look forward to the reality check.

**Forever in the Fire**: I hope this helps. And like I said, the Persona story has no place here whatsoever.

**Xafnir**: There's your answer. Tatsuya and Naoya passed in the first exam (their magic makes them powerhouses). Seta passed in the second (I figured with runes you learn defense before offense so it took Seta a while). Hamuko passed in the third, a few months before the Bora incident. She hasn't been on an S-Class mission yet. Elizabeth might've been S-Class if she was still active.

Right. Moving on to the new arc!

Thanks for... bearing with the interlude.


	6. Long Way

"Oya, oya!" Tatsuya exclaimed as he entered the request room on the 6th floor and saw who was already there. "This I wasn't expecting to see today! Li'l Hamuko looking for her first S-Class job! And to think Seta isn't here to see it."

"Sh-shut up, Tatsuya!" she snapped back, blushing slightly. It was true. Seta had left right after Master Igor had gotten back from the guildmasters' meeting and told them about the demon Lullaby that the Fairy Tail mages had defeated. And if rumours were true, they'd been fighting a dark guild only hours before that. Seta had immediately taken an S-Class job, grabbed his team and left that same day, saying he wouldn't look weak compared to 'those Fairy asses'.

Strange thing was, she was seeing Seta passionate about something. And she liked it, even if it _was_ just him wanting to beat the competition.

"Oya, so short tempered! Relax, I'm only teasing. So which one do you think you'll go for?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know... This one for defeating some monster that's been killing people up in the mountains seems good. Twelve million jewel reward!" Hamuko finished, smiling.

Tatsuya scratched his chin. "Oyaaa, don't take this the wrong way, Li'l Hamuko, but maybe you should pick something that isn't so potentially deadly for your first S-Class."

'It'd be easier to take it the right way if you didn't insist on calling me 'little', jerk.' Hamuko complained in her own head. "Fine. So what do you suggest, oh all-knowing Tatsuya?"

Tatsuya shrugged and walked towards the request board. Scanning the pages that were pinned there for a few seconds, he pulled one off. "Here we go. Break the curse of Galuna Island." he read before handing it to Hamuko.

"Seven million? That's the lowest reward on- ohhh, I see. One of those stupid gate keys too. Pass." she declined, handing back the paper.

But Tatsuya was insistent. "Look at the key again." he pressed. "The symbol on it. An arrow, as in Sagittarius, as in _Zodiac_. That right there is a _Gold_ gate key."

_That_ news gave Hamuko pause. "If I gave that to Kei... He'd owe me forever! I could hold this over his head for _years_!" she grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Tatsuya gave her back the request page. "Go get 'em, Li'l Hamuko!"

She snatched it out of his hand. "Stop calling me that!" she snapped, but was unable to stop grinning while she said it.

-(-)-

"Yeah! First S-Class! This is gonna be _sweet_!" Junpei exclaimed as he power walked along the docks behind the rest of the team.

"It would be more 'sweet' if we could find viable transportation, Iori." Mitsuru deadpanned.

"Well, yeah. But still! S-Class, baby! Yeah!"

Just then, an oddly dressed man with an eyepatch sailed through the air to land in front of them, having appeared to have come from the large ship ahead of them.

"Well, I have a plan." Hamuko announced. "We either help the guys who are getting their boat-"

"Ship." Mitsuru interjected.

"-stolen, earning their gratitude so they'll take us to Galuna Island." Hamuko continued, ignoring the interruption. "_Or_ we help whoever it is steal the boat-"

"Ship." Mitsuru interrupted again.

Hamuko gritted her teeth, but continued. "-and get _them_ to take us to Galuna Island."

"So.. Which are we doing?" Junpei asked, confused.

"Well this guy has an eyepatch, so he's clearly a pirate." Hamuko deduced.

"Hey! That's discrimination!" Junpei cried. "Maybe he just had a really bad experience with the sharp edge of a table or something."

"Nah, I'm a pirate.", the injured pirate confirmed in a startling display of honesty, possibly due to a concussion.

"See?" Hamuko pointed at him, smiling at her team. "So we kick his buddies' asses, and the guys already doing that will be super grateful and stuff! Then we have our ride!"

"A sound plan." Mitsuru agreed. "And if our new friend _isn't_ sufficiently grateful, we beat him too and just steal the ship."

"Unless it's the military." Hamuko pointed out.

"Unless it's the military." Mitsuru amended.

"Then we ask nicely." Hamuko continued.

"Then we ask nicely." Mitsuru agreed.

"With puppydog eyes." Hamuko grinned.

"With-... Ahh, you can do that part." Mitsuru answered.

"And _that_ is why I'm S-Class." Hamuko finished triumphantly, nodding to herself.

"U-um, excuse me?" Fuuka spoke up, unnoticed before now. "The sounds of men in horrible, horrible pain have stopped. I think the fight is over."

Team Cup blinked at each other for a second before making a run for the ship.

-(-)-

Junpei was the first to finish climbing the rigging and reach the deck of the ship. The first thing he saw was the point of a sword inches from his face. "Woah, woah! Easy with the sword!" he exclaimed. "Not a pirate, I'm a mage! Guild sanctioned and everything!"

"Mark?" the person on the other end of the sword – a woman based on the voice – demanded.

"Well if you'd let me get on my feet I'd show it to ya!" he said, calmer than he felt.

The sword was pulled away and Junpei climbed onto the deck. He immediately unfastened a button on his shirt and showed off the two-tone butterfly on his chest. "See? Now do you mind if I help the rest of my team get up here?"

"No." the redheaded swordswoman said, sheathing her sword. "Go ahead."

As Junpei looked back over the edge he could see Mitsuru almost at the top. Fuuka and Hamuko were both halfway. "Hey, boss! Need some help?" he asked, grinning.

"No, we're just peachy!" she shouted back. 'Stupid ropes, stupid Junpei, stupid shortness, stupid pirate ship, stupid impossible to reach island-' she continued to grumble to herself as she climbed.

"Haaah..." she breathed as she rolled over onto the deck of the ship, eyes closed. The first thing she saw when she opened them again was a sword a few inches from her nose.

"Stop doing that!" Junpei shouted.

"Sorry. Reflex." the swordswoman replied, sheathing it again.

Junpei pulled Hamuko to her feet as Mitsuru pulled Fuuka up onto the deck, bringing the whole team together again. "Well," Hamuko began as she dusted herself off, smiling, "first ordeal of the mission over with. Sorry about that Miss-" Hamuko turned to look at the swordswoman only for her jaw to figuratively hit the floor.

"Scarlet. Erza Scarlet. May I ask who you are and why you and your team are climbing aboard a pirate ship?"

'My first S-Class mission and I immediately run into _Titania_ _Erza_?' ran through Hamuko's head before several things clicked into place. 'Titania Erza. Fairy Tail. S-Class and verifiably stronger than the Salamander. Seta's protocols were proven right so...'

"No. At the moment you may not. Not until you tell me why a Fairy Tail mage is in Hargeon. The last time one of you was here she almost killed twenty-three people. Were it not for the actions of two of _our _mages, she would have."

That... was not the answer that Erza was expecting. Ignoring the part where someone said 'no' to her questioning and demanded answers of their own, to hear a member of Fairy Tail did something as monstrous as that... She would need to investigate further but bringing back Natsu and Lucy came first. "I didn't know about that. And I hope that you'll tell me who it was that was responsible when I get back, but right now I have to chase down some idiots who went on an S-Class job without being cleared for it. "

Hamuko got a bad feeling. "An S-Class job. That required travel by boat."

"Ship."

"Stop doing that!" Hamuko shouted at Mitsuru before collecting herself. "It was the Galuna Island job, wasn't it?" she asked Erza.

Erza blinked. "How did you know?"

Hamuko couldn't help it. She laughed right in Erza's face. "Because apparently your guild exists entirely to piss ours off." She offered a hand to shake. "Hamuko Arisato. S-Class mage of Fate Butterfly. I accepted the Galuna Island job this morning. Nice to meet you."

-(-)-

It was a long ship ride to Galuna Island. Mitsuru could have used her magic to speed things up but it would have been a waste of power. So the four Fate Butterfly mages and one Fairy Tail mage spent the time talking while the pirate crew worked the ship. It wasn't like any of the mages knew how, after all.

Hamuko had just finished retelling the details of the Bora incident.

"So Lucy was the cause, then." Erza stated rather than questioned.

"If Lucy is a blonde spirit mage then yeah." Hamuko confirmed.

"I see." Erza said solemnly. She liked Lucy. She was a nice girl and a decent enough mage. She even seemed to have a way of, present circumstances excluded, keeping Natsu reigned in, even if only a little. And even in the current circumstances if Lucy weren't around, Natsu would've just taken that job and gone on his own. "Please don't think I'm making excuses for her, but at the time she wasn't a member of Fairy Tail. Therefore, I can't punish her."

Would the guild punish her even if she was? Erza couldn't be sure, and that worried her. 'Are we really that insular?', she wondered to herself, 'that we don't care who gets caught in the crossfire?'

Hamuko seemed to be considering that answer. "That's... pretty much what I was expecting." Seeing Erza's questioning expression, she continued. "Don't get me wrong, she deserves some sort of punishment but one of my best friends is a runes expert. I know enough about legal technicalities from him to guess how things like this turn out. But fair warning; I'll beat some responsibility into her if I have to." she promised, deadly serious.

"If you tried, I would have to stop you." Erza retorted, equally serious.

The staring match continued for a good twenty seconds.

Before they both burst out laughing.

"Ahaha, oh, could you imagine if we really acted like that? All angry and confrontational and stuff!" Hamuko giggled.

Erza nodded, her chuckling dying down. "Ah, yes. I'm sure Lucy will listen to reason. She's a smart enough girl."

"Sure. Wow, I needed that. I mean I'm kind of nervous. Despite this weirdness, this _is_ my first S-Class job." Hamuko confided.

"I'm sure you'll do fine. I promise I'll just grab my idiots and bring them back to the ship. It's still your show." Erza assured.

Thanks." Hamuko said. "So, tell me about these idiots who stole an S-Class job!" Hamuko requested, grinning.

"Aaah..."

-(-)-

A/N: Yep. This arc is split up into multiple chapters. And this one is ANGST FREE as promised.

**REVIEWS**- oh, wait. There weren't any. I answered them in the roster chapter. Oh well.

Short chapter but I need to sleep tonight. Or this morning, as it turns out. And this felt like a natural-ish end point.

Thanks for reading!


	7. Memories of You

"So what is your plan?" Erza asked of Hamuko as they disembarked from the ship onto Galuna Island.

"Your Stupid Lucy and Stupid Salamander and probably that Gray guy have been here for a day, right? If it's alright with you, I'll help you round them up, find out what they know and get this job done so we can leave. I've been here five minutes and I already hate the place." Hamuko griped. First S-Class job and it's a tangled mess before she even started! She didn't even know what the curse was supposed to _do_ yet.

Except colour the moon purple a within a certain distance of the island. That part was kind of cool.

"Very well. Shall we go?" Erza asked.

Hamuko glanced behind her to see Junpei helping Fuuka off the ship. Once everyone was situated, Hamuko asked, "How're we gonna find them?"

A girlish scream from further along the beach sounded.

"... Oh."

-(-)-

After what Erza would call a jog (and anyone else would call a full out run) along the beach, they found one of their targets. Lucy.

About to be squished by a... giant blue rat. Wearing a corset.

'… I'm never going on an S-Class job again.' Hamuko decided. 'That thing is just _too_ creepy.'

Erza knocked the rat off of it's trajectory with a single sword strike, knocking it out in the process. Hamuko could have kissed the swordswoman for that.

She wouldn't, though.

Well, maybe...?

… No. No, she wouldn't.

"Erza!" Lucy squeaked, excited to see her and thankful for the save.

Only to quiver in fear at the look Erza gave her. A look that promised suffering the likes of which Lucy had never experienced before. "Do you know why I'm here?" Erza asked the blonde.

"Ahh... Uh, you're here to take us back, right?" Lucy answered nervously.

"Lucyyyyyy!", a high-pitched voice came from above. Looking up, the Butterfly mages saw a flying blue cat. "Thank goodness! You're-" It stopped talking instantly when it spotted Erza. Said swordswoman became very still before striking instantly when the cat tried to fly away, catching it easily.

"Where is Natsu?" Erza demanded of Lucy as she held onto the cat by its tail.

"Wait! Please listen!" Lucy begged. "We're sorry for going without permission but this island is in real trouble! There are guys trying to resurrect a demon trapped in ice and the people of the village are suffering thanks to that spell!"

"That is not my concern." Erza stated flatly.

"Th-then at least let us finish the mission-" Lucy's plea was interrupted by the sword that flashed in front of her nose.

"No." Erza spoke with finality. "You have betrayed the Master. Do not think you will get away with this unscathed." she finished with a cold glare at the now terrified blonde.

"Geez, scary!" Junpei observed, standing with the Butterflies as they watched from a short distance away.

"I like her style." Mitsuru commented, smirking.

"D'you think she'd teach me how to do that?" Hamuko asked.

"Ehh, I don't think you could pull it off." Junpei decided. "You're too nice."

Hamuko sighed and pouted. "Yeah."

-(-)-

"So..." Fuuka began, "Is she going to stare at that tent flap until he gets here? She hasn't moved in hours."

It was true. When they'd reached the place where the villagers on the island had taken shelter, they found Gray had been left there, injured and unconscious. They decided to wait until Gray woke up since not only did he know more about the situation than any of the others, he might know where Natsu was. As such, they had waited in one of the villagers' tents with Lucy and the cat (apparently named Happy), who were tied up.

In Junpei's defense, he _was_ trying _very_ hard not to notice how those ropes were squishing Lucy's breasts. It didn't work, but the effort was made.

When Gray _did_ finally show up, he was immediately met with Erza's death glare. "You're late, Gray." she said.

It was a testament to how scary Erza clearly was to the mages of her guild how Gray seemed to become _even more_ pale. According to the others, he was naturally pale. Add that to him being injured and weak, the idea that he could become whiter still seemed ludicrous. Yet it happened when his eyes met hers. "Erza!" he croaked. "Lucy, Happy!" he added, noticing the two with tear tracks running down their faces.

"I've heard what happened from Lucy. Weren't you supposed to be stopping Natsu?" Erza asked, standing. "I'm speechless."

"Where's Natsu?" Gray asked.

"That's what I'd like to know."

"He should have been in the village ruins fighting Reitei's lackeys." Lucy interrupted. "But when we went to check, there was no one there. I figured Natsu would be okay and Erza told me to take her to where you were, Gray."

"I searched from the air and that's how we found this place." Happy added.

"Gray, we're going out to search for Natsu. When we find him, we will be returning to my ship." Erza said, accepting no arguments.

Not that Gray wasn't going to try anyway. "What're you saying, Erza? If you heard what's going on then you've got to know what's going on on this island!"

'Guess that's my cue.' Hamuko decided. "What she's saying is your part in this is over." she said, standing up as well. "We'll be finding the Salamander, maybe beat him a little on general principle, then we'll boot his ass and yours to the ship so I can do my job."

"Who are-" Gray started to ask before realisation dawned. "Your job... You took the mission."

"Hamuko Arisato of Fate Butterfly, at your service!" she answered with a smile. "Except not really at your service because you and your buddies – _especially_ your buddies - ", she added, glaring at Lucy, "got on my bad side."

Well that shot a big hole in his 'I'll do this job anyway because no one else will' argument. If he didn't then those guys would. On the other hand... "I want to help, if you'll let me."

"Gray-" Erza started, annoyed.

But Hamuko cut her off. "You'll still receive whatever punishment Erza and/or your guild assigns."

"Okay."

"You won't receive a portion of the reward."

"Fine."

"Hamuko-" Erza began.

But was ignored. "Why." Hamuko asked, flatly.

"Huh?" Gray asked, articulately.

"Why are you so determined to see this through? You don't have the bleeding heart the spirit bitch does-", an indignant complaint of 'Hey!' could be heard, "so what is it? Is it to say you did an S-Class mission?"

"No! I..." Gray began but trailed off. Hamuko could see Erza wanted to say something but Hamuko shook her head slightly. Erza _had_ agreed to let Hamuko take the lead so acquiesced to the unspoken request.

After collecting his thoughts, Gray started again. "Have you heard of how Ul imprisioned Deliora?"

Hamuko smiled slightly. "Often. A friend of mine considers her one of his greatest role models. His town would've been next on Deliora's rampage if she hadn't stopped it. He tells any new mages we bring on the story as an example of what he believes a mage should be." She shook off the reminiscent thoughts, not noticing Gray's wistful smile. "Yes. She used Iced Shell; a forbidden spell. Forbidden because it kills the user."

Gray nodded and continued. "Me and Lyon, we were her students. We learned everything we know about ice creation magic from her. Lyon's ambition was always to surpass Ul but now that he thinks she's dead, he can't beat her. So he's decided to do the next best thing, defeat Deliora, the demon she couldn't defeat and died to imprison. But there's something he doesn't know about Iced Shell."

Gray clenched his hands into fists.

"Ul is... alive!"

To anyone else, in fact, to _everyone_ else in the room, this came as a shock. But not to Hamuko. "I know." she said softly.

Gray was astonished. She already knew about the secret of Iced Shell? "Then you know Ul is the ice?"

Hamuko raised her eyebrows. "Err, no. Well not specifically. I could've guessed but... No. Our founder was a master of mind magic so we can find intact minds and communicate with them if we want. Tatsuya, that friend I mentioned? He wanted to speak to hers." She chuckled to herself. "It didn't go how he expected it would."

-(FLASHBACK)-

Tatsuya gasped at what he saw when Philemon summoned Ul to the dreamscape. It had taken time to gather the courage to ask to speak to her. A month after he joined Fate Butterfly, he had finally made the request.

Ul was stood in front of him, but entirely made of ice.

Also naked.

Surprisingly, he was focusing on the naked part. Then again, it was Tatsuya. So not really that surprising.

"Huh." The ice woman Ul said suddenly while looking herself over. "Not what I was expecting when I was casting the spell. Still hot though, figuratively speaking anyway." She looked in Tatsuya's direction. "So care to tell me where I am, why I'm here and why I'm not dead, kid?"

It is not easy to fluster Tatsuya Suou. But a woman completely at ease with talking to a complete stranger while _naked_ seemingly without a care was doing it easily. He could only remember the last question and endeavoured to answer without stammering. "O-oya, w-why you're not... You technically are. From, oya, from a scientific standpoint at least. You cast Iced Shell, trapping Deliora in ice at the cost of your life."

There was a flash of disappointment at that answer. She wouldn't have minded living the rest of her life as an ice sculpture. Much. Still, she was prepared for the outcome when she cast the spell. "And where and why I'm here?" she pressed.

"R-right. Where and... and why... Oya, for spirits' sake, _here_!" he said, throwing her his jacket to cover up a bit. "So... Okay. This is the collective unconscious as my mentor calls it but our guild just calls it the dreamscape since we only come here in dreams. It's basically a place where all minds are connected. While your body is gone, your mind is still intact, after all."

"So I guess this mentor of yours brought me here? Why?" Ul asked.

"I was getting to that! Oya, pushy naked ice lady.", Tatsuya grumbled. "Well, the first time my mentor brought me and a few others here he told us we could learn from the best mages in the world with this method."

"So you're expecting me to teach you?" she asked with a glacial look.

Pun intended.

"OYA! Stop interrupting me!" Tatsuya yelled. "No, I don't want to learn ice creation magic."

"Good. I've had enough of teaching after the last two." Ul said. When Tatsuya shot her a chastising glare for another interruption, she just shrugged.

"_Anyway_, when he was listing examples of potential teachers, your name came up. I immediately called him on it since I knew you were dead but he said since your mind was still intact he could bring it here."

Tatsuya paused for an unusually long time. Ul chose to press him. "You still haven't answered my question. Why am I here?"

The reason Tatsuya paused was so he could decide exactly what he wanted to say. "You stopped Deliora. You made it so he couldn't hurt anyone else. Based on the direction he was moving at the time... My town would've been the next hit. So... Oya... So, I wanted to thank you properly now that I have the opportunity. From me, my brother, on behalf of all the people you saved, thank you so much!" Tears were rimming his eyes as he finished but he _refused_ to let them fall. He was _not_ going to cry, dammit!

There was an awkward silence that seemed to drag on.

Ul broke it. "You're kind of selfish, you know that?"

Tatsuya gaped at her in response.

"You realise that to me, Deliora was frozen about seven minutes ago, right? I wasn't aware at all while I was that ice. Am I going to go back when you're done with me and my mind'll be awake, trapped as my own prison? Hm?"

Tatsuya didn't know. Philemon had to have thought of that if he thought she could teach one of them, right?

"And as for _thanking_ me, did you maybe think at any point that I, oh, maybe _didn't do it for you_? I did it because one of my students was in that town, dammit! I did it so he could live his life free of his stupid need for revenge! Not for you, not for your brother, not for the people who might've died, _I DID IT FOR HIM_!" she finished, screaming at him.

Tatsuya really didn't have anything to say to that. A simple 'I'm sorry' didn't seem like it would cut it.

But it was all he had. "I'm sorry." he whispered.

They stood there silently for a moment.

"Could you do me a favour?" Ul asked eventually.

"Anything." Tatsuya nodded.

"Could you find out what happened to my students? I'd like to know they turned out okay after... after everything that happened."

"Sure." Tatsuya agreed. "What're their names?"

"Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia."

-(ONE MONTH LATER)-

"Oya... So... Were you awake? When you went back, I mean?" Tatsuya asked tentatively when Ul appeared.

"Hmph. Consider yourself lucky, brat." she answered. "So... About my students?"

"I've been looking for about a month. There is a 'Gray Fullbuster' on the Fairy Tail guild roster."

Ul's face lit up with pride. "Fairy Tail, huh? Kid's a big shot now."

Tatsuya rolled his eyes. "If you say so." He paused before continuing in a more solemn tone. "There is no record of a 'Lyon Vastia' anywhere that I've found so far, but I'll keep looking."

"Thank you. And brat?"

"Yeah?"

"You're welcome."

-(FLASHBACK END)-

-(-)-

A/N: I haven't spell checked this or anything since I've got to go out in a bit. Just thought I'd post this now. Funny how we got Tatsuya character development in the Hamuko focused arc. Oh well.

**REVIEWS!**

**Xafnir**: Either Minato is an ordinary dude, or he is a very sneaky mage. Since he's managed to fool both Hamuko and the rest of his family. I had no intention of Minato being a mage at the start of this fic. Whether he becomes one? I 'unno.

That about covers it. Angst! Grr!

Thanks for reading!


	8. Breakin' Through

Hamuko had decided to let Gray accompany them to the temple so he could try to stop his estranged surrogate brother (as Hamuko would describe him since 'boy who Gray shared a teacher with' was a bit of a mouthful) from resurrecting Deliora. Erza would also accompany them until they found Natsu so she could drag him back to their temporary lodgings in the village. Lucy would stay behind with the villagers because Hamuko didn't want the blonde anywhere near any possible combat situations for fear she'd decide nuking the island was a sound strategy. Fuuka would stay behind as her magic was almost entirely support based. If the village was attacked, she was to send a message to Hamuko with Telepathy and untie Lucy and the cat so she could help with defense.

On heading to the temple where Deliora was and where the Moon Drip was being used, they heard a loud sound like that of a building being destroyed in the direction of the temple. When it eventually came into view over the trees, it looked... off.

"Was the temple... always at an angle like that? Because that's a weird design if it was." Hamuko quipped.

"No." Gray answered. "I guess we found out where Natsu went. He must've knocked out the supports on one side so the Moon Drip wouldn't work. The light can't reach Deliora anymore."

_Everyone_ was stunned into silence by that revelation. Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander, one of the most unthinking mages in Fiore history actually had a _good idea_.

"Fine, _fine_! That's _one_ mark in his favour." Hamuko conceded. "With _hundreds_ against."

"It's a start." Erza commented, glad that the Butterfly girl was finding worth in Natsu after all the naysaying she was doing. The girl was right though. 'Maybe if we could get Natsu to think things through that well all the time he really _could_ be an S-Class mage.' she added in her mind.

"Well, either way, Lyon's plan for Deliora is pretty much shot to hell now. I don't see them fixing that any time soon. So let's go kick your big bro's ass and put an end to this mess."

"He's not my brother." Gray denied.

"Close enough." Hamuko shrugged.

"Get down!" Erza ordered, a split-second before crescent shaped blades flew out of the forest followed by their attackers wearing purple robes. The three women dodged easily enough. Junpei being less agile chose to use his Crush magic on the one blade that got too close, shattering it. Gray opted for a quick ice shield.

"We finally found you, Fairy Tail!", one of the robed figures shouted.

"We won't allow you to interfere with Reitei's plans!" proclaimed another.

"Lyon's followers?" Erza asked Gray.

"Yeah." Gray answered, assessing their opponents.

"And you just _know_ they will follow if we don't deal with them here." Mitsuru drawled.

"Go on ahead, boss." Junpei suggested. "Mitsuru and I can handle these guys, easy! Right, Mitsuru?"

"Of course." Mitsuru agreed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

As much as Erza wanted to go with Hamuko, strategically she knew it would be better for her to help hold the line here. 'This must be almost, if not, all of his followers. All Hamuko and Gray would need to do is beat Lyon and whatever stragglers remain and the day would be ours.' "I will remain as well."

Hamuko nodded. "All right. Come on, Gray."

"Yeah." Gray agreed, and the two ran on towards the temple in the distance.

Mitsuru pressed one hand to a nearby tree and used her water manipulation magic to draw the water out of it. Thinking it the start of an attack rather than gathering necessary resources, one of the purple clad minions attacked. Manipulating the ball of green-tinted water surrounding her hand to form a sickle, she made a lazy swing at her attacker with it to cover her free hand reaching for his neck. Draining enough from him to disable but not to kill, she watched as Erza used her Requip magic to summon swords that would fly at Lyon's minions.

'Hm. I'm being upstaged. Well, I'll have to do something about that.' "Iori! Guard me." Mitsuru ordered as she began preparing a more... _efficient_ spell. The water she had gathered was sent high into the air in one large sphere. It then split into twenty smaller spheres before they began to change shape and then freeze solid. Twenty ice spears floated in the air and with a shout of "Mabufu!", they each shot towards one of the robed minions, over half hitting their targets. That was in addition to the five Junpei had defeated while guarding Mitsuru.

That made sixteen to the duo versus eighteen to Erza.

Mitsuru sighed. 'I suppose Fairy Tail's S-Class are that rank for a reason. Just like ours.'

-(-)-

Night had just fallen by the time Hamuko and Gray had reached the temple. "So... Just to be sure... You wouldn't be planning to use Iced Shell on Lyon to make sure he doesn't unfreeze Deliora, would you?"

Gray stared, wide-eyed at Hamuko, doing his very best to look horrified at the implication. "What? No! Why would you think that?"

Hamuko shrugged. "I 'unno. You seemed like the stupid self-sacrificing type, I guess. Glad to know I'm just being weird though." Hamuko smiled. "I mean it's not like that plan would work anyway. He has like, hundreds of followers and he'd already be exactly where he'd need to be to get unfrozen."

"R-right..." Gray agreed nervously. 'Oh, crap, that's right! Man, I'd've looked so stupid if I'd tried what I was planning when I woke up!'

"So you just kick this guy's ass and we can get out of here, I get the mission done and we go ho-" she was interrupted by the sounds of explosions and shattering ice. "I'm getting really tired of being interrupted by sounds of violence."

Finding the location of the fight was easy. The room with ice covering it was hard to miss. Gray busted his way through a wall to get in. Hamuko opted to just lean against the opposite wall and let him do his thing.

"Gray." Natsu spoke in realisation of who it was that interrupted his fight.

"Natsu, let me take this guy down." Gray half-requested, half-demanded.

"You already lost to him once, remember?" Natsu reminded him.

"I won't this time. I'll finish this."

"That's some confidence you have there." Lyon commented on Gray's bravado.

"It was my fault that Ul died ten years ago. But... ", Gray paused as he settled into a fighting stance. "Hurting my friends, hurting the village, trying to melt that ice... I can't forgive you for that. I'll punish you for all of it, Lyon-"

He was interrupted by a rumbling sound and the whole temple starting to shake. Gray glanced at Hamuko. "You're right. That is kind of irritating."

Slowly, the formerly slanted room flattened out, indicating the temple had somehow been repaired, a fact that Natsu instantly picked up on, indicated by his stomping on the floor and screaming 'what the hell is going on'.

"This means the moonlight can shine on Deliora again!" Gray realised aloud.

"Sorry! I was busy!" an odd man in a red mask shouted jovially as he ran into the ice-covered room.

"Zalty, is this your doing?" Lyon asked.

"The moon will be coming out soon so I decided to restore the temple." 'Zalty' confirmed.

"W-what the hell is this guy?" Gray asked incredulously.

"After all my work to ruin it!" Natsu said, equally shocked. "How did you fix it!"

"Doesn't matter." Hamuko said coldly, glaring at the strange old man as she entered the room. "Do it again. He'll be too busy to fix it a second time."

"No way!" Natsu shouted, not caring who this new girl was. "I'm gonna kick that guy's ass for messing up my hard work!"

"No..." Hamuko said, grabbing Natsu's vest with one hand. "You are going to break the temple again to make sure Deliora doesn't get awakened and slaughter everyone on the island. And if you don't I'll make sure _Erza_ knows _exactly_ why it is we'll all be about to die. Clear?"

"A-aye!" Natsu nodded, reflexively acting like Happy at the thought of Erza's wrath.

"Great!" she smiled sweetly as she let him go and he immediately bolted off, saying something about a disgrace to Fairy Tail to Gray before leaving. "So Zalty, was it? I'm very curious about how you repaired this temple. Must be some impressive magic."

'Zalty' was a bit unsure what to do. What 'he' _needed_ to do was stop Natsu from destroying the temple supports again, maybe test his abilities while doing so. But this new girl mage would probably have something to say about that. And from seeing how Titania had deferred to her when they first arrived on the island, she would be a capable opponent, supposedly S-Class. An enemy of that strength at 'his' back would be... problematic. Especially when trying to bring down the Salamander.

Deciding 'his' course of action, 'Zalty' ran from the room, laughing all the way, knowing the girl would chase 'him'.

Hamuko sighed. "Don't lose, Gray. It'd make me look _really_ stupid for letting you do this your way." she told him as she ran off to chase the fleeing masked man.

-(-)-

While Hamuko had no trouble keeping up with the masked mage, he was clearly not as out of shape as his appearance suggested. She was getting slightly annoyed by his constant attempts to feel out her magic by dropping sections of wall and ceiling on her. He learned nothing. Her magic was difficult to recognise unless you were the direct target or she got really serious but that didn't stop the masked mage from trying. All he found out from it was that she could knock away any hazards he sent her way without even breaking stride.

After a long chase through the halls of the temple, the masked man stopped in an enormous cavern below the building itself. A cavern with a large form encased in ice at its centre and currently bathed in an odd, magical, purple glow.

Deliora. Moon Drip.

'Better hurry it up, Salamander.' Hamuko thought to herself. 'We're running out of time.'

-(-)-

A/N: This chapter took a few days. Not sure why. Still fun.

Hey, I was wondering. If I were to make Natsu suddenly and inexplicably romantic and fawning all over Lucy, then name them as central characters, would I get more readers? Just curious. I'm actually more a fan of Natsu/Lisanna myself.

So we get a taste of Mitsuru's specific brand of magic in this one. Water manipulation like Juvia. Two differences. One: She is nowhere _near_ as capable with it so can't make it rain wherever she goes, forcing her to use more... _local_ water sources. Two: Juvia makes water boil when she's angry. Why not go in the other direction? So Mitsuru can freeze water. However, she can _not_ straight up make ice out of nothing like Gray does. It has to be water first.

Also, might've noticed the name Mitsuru used for her attack. It's an SMT ice spell that attacks all enemies. Other characters will probably use similar naming terms so here's a quick naming guide. It's not rocket science so don't worry.

Agi = fire

Bufu = ice

Garu = wind

Zio = electricity

Tera = earth

Zan = force

Hama = light

Mudo = dark

Megido = almighty

Probably not important enough that you need to memorise them or anything. Just thought I'd mention it just in case. Next we have...

**REVIEWS!**

**Xafnir**: Fair question. For now, I'm focused on this. Why? Because it's fun to write. Rest assured, I _will_ be going back to FEShadow soon enough but expect a couple changes. More details on that when I actually post a new chapter of it.

**Engineer4ever**: I think I might've been unclear on something. Seta isn't a direct enemy to Fairy Tail. He sees them as a menace to society but knows that they are _technically_ the good guys. Attacking them would make Fate look like villains. So instead when he hears of Fairy Tail doing something praiseworthy, he tries to one-up them by doing something better. That's what he meant when he left in chapter 6.

Reviews done.

Alright. I would like to wish Hamuko and Minato Arisato both a happy birthday. And a happy Lie Day to all you folks out there in ffnet land!

Thanks for reading!

PS: RIP Toby's sock. Friend, brother, garment. He will be missed.


	9. Unavoidable Battle

"So why'd you run?" Hamuko asked the masked man Zalty who still had his back to her. "You'd have to fight me eventually, right? Why delay it?"

Zalty started laughing again. "Deliora! Amazing, isn't he? Can you imagine how powerful he is? To destroy whole towns just by walking through?"

Hamuko sighed, having heard this speech before. "Oh, you're one of _those_ mages. 'Oh, I'll just resurrect this incredibly powerful and dangerous creature that could single-handedly decimate Fiore's population. Then, I'll try to make it follow my orders! Even though no one has ever been able to do it before! But I'm sure _I_ can because I'm a super awesome sauce dark mage!' Heard it already. It was stupid then and it's stupid now."

Zalty looked back at her over his shoulder. "Well I wouldn't phrase it quite like that but... Basically. You're surprisingly insightful."

"What can I say? I'm in a guild full of super smart people. They had to rub off on me eventually."

Zalty pursed his lips, an oddly feminine habit. "What was your name again?"

"Hamuko Arisato, S-Class mage of Fate Butterfly." Hamuko answered automatically.

'Ahh, Fate Butterfly. And one of their prized 'aces' at that. Well this might actually be a little fun!' Zalty mused. "Never heard of you." he said dismissively before returning to staring at the ice.

Zalty's attempt to irritate her failed miserably, however. S-Class mages may be considered minor celebrities but not only was Hamuko newly of that rank, Fate Butterfly were a small guild and not especially well recognised yet. Besides, as far as Hamuko knew, Zalty had been on Galuna for the past three years. It'd make sense for him to be out of the loop.

"So..." Hamuko began, deciding stalling to give Natsu more time just in case wasn't a bad idea, "I... guess Gray's big bro doesn't know about your schemyness?"

"No. He was a useful asset though. Brought in so many followers to help with the Moon Drip ceremony. I might even let him have that fight with Deliora he wants so badly. He wants to die like an idiot it isn't my problem." He reached into his robes and pulled out a sphere made of a glass-like material that had a pale green colour. "Shall we begin, then? I must admit I've grown curious about the magic you use."

"Likewise." Hamuko said before attempting to get an attack in first. Puckering her lips she thought 'Staccato' before letting off a short, sharp whistle sound much like she had with Zalty's traps. Zalty predicted the move, however, and jumped out of the way before the attack landed. The cliff he was standing on was struck instead, breaking apart and scattering rocks in the forzen Deliora's direction.

Zalty started laughing again. "I might not know what magic you use, girl, but I know when you're using it. Not sure why the kissy-face though. You have a thing for older men, maybe?"

Hamuko turned green at that, though couldn't help but think that may explain at least a little bit of her attraction to Seta. And that thought only made it worse. "Oh, I really don't like you." She responded, partially to convey the sentiment, partially to disguise another whistle at the end of the sentence, hoping to catch her opponent off guard. The short, sharp and tightly focused sound struck true this time, catching him in the shoulder. An unlucky hit, as it turns out. It was in no way a serious hit. And Hamuko knew from her training that getting hit that close to the ear would let Zalty know _exactly_ what type of magic she was using.

"Oho!" Zalty exclaimed, stumbling back only very slightly. "You're a tricky one! And clever with your magic, too! Most users of Sound Magic have problems with aim. They either train until their magic is dangerous to everyone around them or leave it as mildly debilitating. But you! You focus it so much only your target will hear it and by then it's already too late! Why, if I didn't know any better I'd name you an assassin! I'll need to take this..." he paused as he started spinning the glass ball on one finger, "more seriously."

"Barline!" She called out aloud before beginning a constant high-pitched whistle while she reached for her instrument case, feeling she would need something more than whistling now that the old man decided to fight back.

He had, but not in the way Hamuko expected. He just lazily threw the glass ball at her. 'Oh no! I might get a bruise!' she thought sarcastically as she continued to whistle. As the sphere met the soundwaves she was creating, it started to crack, then shattered.

Then reformed.

Then shattered again.

"Eep!" she squeaked as the glass shards flew at her. She was left with no choice but to dive for cover behind some rocks.

"How unfortunate for you, little girl! Looks like your defensive spell just makes my attack more dangerous!" Zalty laughed.

"How the hell did you do that?" Hamuko shouted. "Glass manipulation? I've never heard of magic like that!"

"Oh, no no. My magic is much better than that. The Arc of Time, it's called!"

"Arc of...? _Time_ manipulation? That's not-" she started to deny.

Before Zalty cut her off. "Possible? You've seen it yourself, little girl! The Arc of Time is a type of Lost Magic, much like the Dragon Slayer Magic the Salamander uses. I would've liked to face him instead but... Well, there's plenty of time for that, isn't there?"

"'Time for that', funny. You been saving that one for a special occasion?" Hamuko taunted, hiding fear with bravado as she readied her instrument; a steel violin. A wooden one would be smashed after one good hit. Sure the thing would sound awful but that would just be a bonus for an attack, wouldn't it?

Zalty laughed. "It was unintentional, I swear! But you know, you really shouldn't stay in one place too long in a fight, girl. You're just asking to get yourself cornered!" His glass ball rocketed towards Hamuko's position due to his having sped up time for it. A shriek of pain was his reward for the attack as well as Hamuko being thrown away from her cover.

'Oww! Right in the boob, dammit!' Hamuko lamented internally. 'Kind of a weak attack though-' "Aah!" she squeaked as she saw the ball coming back, seeming to move even faster. The instant she dodged away from it, it came back from another direction. Over and over, forcing her to dance out of the way. In the end, she did not come out unscathed. But her instrument did and was put in ready position for her counterattack.

'Well if he wants me to dance... 6:8 rhythm, ready, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and-' "Fortissimo! Quarter note arpeggio!" she called as she opened her offense with an arpeggiated chord not bothering attacking the ball, instead more literally dancing around it and focusing the attack on Zalty himself. He dodged, still grinning, but Hamuko was just getting started.

"Mezzo forte! Eighth note melody!" The focused sound waves continued to zero in on Zalty's position as he continued running around. The constant barrage rained down on him like machine gun fire, chipped stones flying into the air and striking him even as the actual attack continued to miss. The distraction working wonderfully in reducing the effectiveness of his time magic, Hamuko took a gamble on taking Zalty down early. "Sforzando!" A much louder and more powerful soundwave was fired at the ground in front of Zalty. Once again the oddly spry old man dodged out of the way in time, even gaining more distance from the incoming attack like he knew he would need it.

Noticing this, Hamuko came to a conclusion and paused in her attack. Zalty did the same as though perfectly willing to chat some more. "You're holding back." Hamuko accused.

"You think?" Zalty asked in response.

"You're more fit than an old man should be even without a spine as hunched as yours. Your magic is of a type that is literally legendary but the way you use it is stupid. A tiny glass ball when you were dropping the ceiling on me a few minutes ago? Please." she scoffed.

Zalty laughed. And Hamuko was thoroughly hating the sound at this point. "'Surprisingly insightful' I said. I love being proven right. Take another look at the ice."

With a wary gaze at Zalty and putting the bow to her violin just in case he tried something, she did. And she noticed the cracks forming on the ice. "There wasn't time to destroy the temple again, was there?" It wasn't really a question as she knew the answer.

An eardrum shattering roar answered anyway. Deliora was awakening.

Anyone else would have done anything to make the noise stop. Hamuko, on the other hand, saw an opportunity. She didn't just manipulate _her_ sound, after all.

Making an activation circle, the third of the fight (first being focusing her whistling, second the violin), she focused the sound of Deliora's roar entirely on Zalty. The resulting explosive force sent Zalty flying out of the cavern.

Hamuko could only suspect, but she believed that for Zalty, eardrum shattering became much more literal in that instant.

The sound of ice shattering came as an unpleasant reminder that maybe disabling the guy who could supposedly control Deliora probably wasn't that hot an idea. As she looked back at the ice, she saw the demon's upper body had broken free.

"OI!" a scratchy voice yelled from the cavern entrance. A quick glance in that direction identified the origin.

"I thought I told you to break the temple." Hamuko said, without the venom she intended. She just wasn't feeling it when faced with inevitable death.

"Yeah. But I figured that roar meant I was too late, right? Can't hurt to have another heavy hitter around to fight this thing!"

Hamuko had to agree with that way of thinking. Better to die fighting and all that brave warrior crap. Didn't mean she had to like it though.

Meanwhile, the last of the ice continued to crack.

"Gray!" Natsu shouted, seeing his fellow Fairy Tail mage in the already melted ice. "You're here!"

"Natsu?" Gray answered.

"We've got no choice now. Let's destroy that thing!" Natsu finished loudly.

"I will... defeat it... Deliora!" another, slightly insane sounding voice appeared nearby. Lyon was crawling on his stomach towards the revived Deliora. "In order to surpass Ul! I will be the one!" he finished, laughing like a madman as he got to his feet unsteadily. "I am... going to... surpass you!" he shouted.

A quick chop to the back of the neck from Gray sent him into blissful unconsciousness. "Enough, Lyon." Gray said softly before walking towards Deliora past the two watching mages. "Leave the rest to me." He stopped and crossed his arms in front of him in a pose. "I will seal Deliora! Iced Shell!" he shouted, and power exploded outwards.

Natsu stepped in the way, facing away from him.

"Natsu!" Gray exclaimed, shocked.

"I'll fight it." he stated simply.

A quick slap to the back of the head from Hamuko surprised Gray out of his pose. "Hate to agree with the Salamander, Gray, but maybe we could try fighting it normally before we resort to the deadly, forbidden, self-sacrificing, _last resort_ spells, hmmm?"

Deliora roared again, bringing back an enormous fist and throwing a punch directly at the closest target: Natsu. "Dodge it!" Gray shouted.

Natsu disregarded it and met Deliora's fist with his own flaming punch. A battle of wills ensued: Natsu's dragon enhanced strength and flames against Deliora's demonic strength.

Defying all expectations, Deliora broke first. Literally. His arm started to break apart under the strain.

More cracks appeared all over Deliora's body as he continued to crumble apart.

"Wha-what! That wasn't me..." Natsu stammered in shock, looking at his hands.

"It can't be!" Lyon shouted from behind them as he watched in horror, Deliora's corpse finally giving up and collapsing to pieces. "Deliora... was already dead... For ten years his life force was sapped by Ul's ice. All we saw... was his last moment." He weakly hit his balled fists against the rocky ground. "I can't compare... I can never surpass Ul!" he finished, weeping.

"Your teacher's pretty amazing." Natsu commented to Gray.

Gray barely heard him, weeping himself, lost in memories of his teacher. "Thank you so much... Teacher!"

-(-)-

As soon as the group of mages, including the recently arrived Erza, Junpei and Mitsuru, left the temple Hamuko got a message from Fuuka.

'Hamuko? Can you hear me?' Fuuka thought to her.

'Yeah, what's wrong? Is someone attacking?' she thought back, concerned about the old man they hadn't found.

'No no!' Fuuka quickly denied. 'It's... It's strange. The villagers said their real village was destroyed, right? Well they sent someone back to look for any stragglers and... It's back.'

'What do you mean, 'it's back'?'

'The village! The whole place is like nothing happened! We're going there now with the villagers. Do you know where it is?'

"Natsu. Can you take us to where the village used to be?" Hamuko requested.

'We're on our way.' Hamuko finished. "Gray, if you want a moment with your brother, now's the time. We're leaving them here."

"He's not my brother." both Gray and Lyon stated simultaneously.

-(-)-

Upon getting back to the village and leaving Lyon and Toby behind, both Natsu and Gray were shocked to see the village that was until very recently a smoking crater. Natsu was constantly banging on surfaces as if expecting them to fall apart or for his hand to pass through like an illusion. "It's back the way it was! How the hell! Almost as if time had been reversed..."

As soon as the words left Natsu's mouth, Hamuko knew how it happened. But she had no idea why.

"Hey, Fuuka!" Hamuko called as soon as the group found the girl and her captives. "How were they?"

"Oh, not so bad. The blonde was having a one person pity party but Happy is kind of fun to talk to! Just don't mention fish." Fuuka warned. "He won't stop talking if you do."

"Natsuuuu!" the blue cat whined upon seeing his friend.

"Happy!" Natsu shouted in response and immediately untied his cat. "Why were you tied up?"

"Erza caught us."

"Right but why did... she... tie..." Realisation gradually dawned on him as he turned around to see Erza's patented glare.

And so Happy and Natsu were both tied up next to Lucy.

"So where's the village chief guy?" Hamuko asked. "I want to get this job finished tonight if possible."

"Was it you who was responsible for our village being restored?" a small blue demon carrying a staff asked in what sounded like an old man's voice. "We are grateful. So when can we expect you to have destroyed the moon?"

"Destroyed the- Oh! I get it! Because the moon's purple you think... No, that's not why. But I can fix the problem, easy!" Hamuko boasted, smiling. "I'll just need a high place with some space." she requested.

"Mm. The watch tower could work. This way." the chief directed, leading them to their destination.

A few minutes later, Hamuko was standing atop the watch tower, the highest point in the village. The whole village showed up to watch what they expected to be the destruction of the moon. "Hey Erza! You think she's really gonna destroy the moon?" Natsu asked, having been dragged with the rest to watch.

"Gotta say, as S-class jobs go, that'd be pretty cool!" Junpei said, grinning.

Hamuko, meanwhile was looking at the shelter over the watch tower with disdain. "Sorry but I'm gonna have to break this canopy! You can deduct repair costs from my reward money!", she shouted down to the crowd of villagers.

Requipping her personal violin, she knelt down and sent four waves of sound at the supports of the canopy, breaking each in turn and making the thing fall over the edge of the tower. The villagers had already moved away since they knew what she was going to do.

Next, she used requip to summon three more string instruments. A viola, cello and double bass. Standing again, she got into her playing stance with her violin. Hamuko called the name of her spell, "Spectral Orchestra!". In an echo of the first time she saw sound magic performed, the three instruments got into position around her, as though held by three invisible musicians.

"I don't get it." Lucy said, speaking for the first time since the others had returned. "What's she doing?"

"Hamuko is a sound mage, taught by one of the best." Mitsuru explained. "As a musician she can create sound herself easily enough. She then manipulates and focuses the resulting sound waves until they become a destructive force. Though I admit, I've never seen her do _this_ before."

As the crowd watched, Hamuko started to play. They were immediately confused.

"What's going on? There's no sound!" Gray asked.

"'Course not!" Junpei said. "Like Mitsuru said, she focuses the sound so it goes in only one direction. Way she says it, most sound mages just make a lot of noise and make it deadly but that means hitting anything in the area with it. The way Hamuko does it, not only is it more powerful, it only hits what she wants it to hit."

Hamuko was aware of none of this. She just continued to play her piece as well as she could. Just because no one could hear it was no excuse to be sloppy. 'Time for the big finish. Crescendo!' The volume and power of her playing increased at a gradual rate until she finished with a particularly loud and long note. Only then did she look up, unknowingly cueing the audience to do the same, having been focused on Hamuko the entire time. There seemed to be cracks through the sky that continued to spread, until it shattered completely.

The purple moon was white again.

After climbing down the tower, she walked straight up to the village chief, smiling. "Job done. I'll take that reward now."

-(-)-

A/N: Ahhh, that's pretty much the end of the Galuna Island arc. I'll be honest, I don't like this arc much. Not for watching. I mean it's pretty cool to watch. But in fanfiction terms there's not much you can do with it. It's a bit like the Land of Waves arc from Naruto in that regard.

**REVIEWS!**

**Xafnir**: … Really? I mean I think I knocked the last chapter of Reapersona out of the park but... Isn't the rest of it kind of bland? Whatever. If the mood strikes me I'll take another swing at it. As for shipping, you and I are of like mind, it seems.

End reviews.

Okay. I feel a need to write some FEShadow brewing so that'll happen soon. Probably before the next chapter of this. Then there's another idea I had a while back that's been clawing at me for attention recently. So... this fic is now officially either second or third priority now. But I'll definitely be coming back to it. Believe it.

… I did not just say that. Bloody Naruto.

Thanks for reading!


	10. Bonds

All of the mages of Fairy Tail and Fate Butterfly disembarked from Galuna Island in the morning, the demonic islanders insisting they join in celebrating through the night. Lucy, Happy and Natsu were even allowed to join in, tying them up being pointless once the mission was complete.

On the ship...

"So, Lucy, was it? You, me and Erza are overdue for a talk." Hamuko spoke cheerily as she cornered Lucy in the captain's cabin, its previous piratey occupant having been relegated to sleeping in the hold with his crew. Since the mission was over, there was no need to restrain magic use. Mitsuru estimated that with her magic they would get back to Hargeon in half the time the trip took before.

"Did you start without me?" Erza asked as she entered the cabin.

"Nope, you're right on time!" Hamuko answered with a light smile. "I figure we should do this quick, like ripping off a bandage. So!" She began, turning to Lucy and the smile falling off her face. "These are the facts of what we're here to talk about. You were in Hargeon a few months ago. You used one of your celestial spirits to send a ship at the harbour at high speed where it would've crashed if not for the intervention of some guild mages, putting their own lives at risk in the process. They were from _my_ guild, by the way." Hamuko gave Lucy a second to process that properly and realise that Hamuko's previously inexplicable anger when dealing with her was now explained, and quite legitimate. Seeing the small amount of dawning horror enter Lucy's expression, Hamuko added more. "At our guild's best estimate, there were twenty-three people working the docks that night. From first-hand accounts of the situation, none of those people would've escaped unscathed. Some amount of casualties would've been a certainty."

Hamuko put a finger to her chin as she thought. "Did I miss anything?" she asked, looking up at Erza.

The significantly taller woman shrugged in response. "You know the situation better than I do."

"Wait wait wait!" Lucy said, waving her arms in front of her. "You're taking that whole thing out of context! That ship was full of girls they were going to sell as slaves! I had to do something!"

"Okay. So why didn't you do something else? Sending a tidal wave into a populated area seems like the worst possible option to me."

"That's not my fault! Aquarius is just like that. Doesn't even care if I get caught in it either. Always being bitchy..." Lucy continued to grumble to herself.

Hamuko, for her part, was astonished, her jaw hanging open at the revelation. This girl, this... supposed guild sanctioned celestial spirit mage willingly summoned a sprit that had no compunctions about attacking its contractor. And she did it in a _populated area_! Hamuko swallowed and started taking deep breaths to keep her calm. "And you didn't summon a different spirit because..."

"Well I was in the water! It made the most sense!" Lucy stated confidently, like there was no flaw in her reasoning.

Hamuko rubbed at her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Aquarius is the water bearer why the hell would being in the water matter when the damned thing is named for _carrying her own_?

"My original idea when I found out who you were... No, my original idea was to beat you into paste for being so stupid. But _after_ that, I thought I could get your side of the story and find out the perfectly valid reason you had for endangering so many lives that day. Maybe you could've come by the guild, apologised, and everything'd be okay between us. Now I'm starting to think my first idea was a more reasonable course of action. Of all the stupid reckless things I've seen people do, summoning a powerful spirit that _by your own admission_ has no problems with attacking even _you_ and doing it in a populated area, that may just _top the list_! I honestly can't fathom how someone could do something so unbelievably _stupid_!"

"Hey, you weren't even there so you can't-!" Lucy said.

"_I'm. Not. Done!_" Hamuko growled before getting a handle on her emotions and taking some more deep breaths. "I suggest when we get back to port you take the first train back to Magnolia. If Fate Butterfly finds out you're in Hargeon after today you will have two S-Class mages hunting you down to eject you with as much force as is necessary. I pray to the spirits someone gets you some help. Before your incompetence ends up killing someone."

Having said her piece and really not wanting to be in the same room as the girl any longer, Hamuko walked out, leaving the two Fairy Tail mages alone.

-(-)-

"That wasn't how I expected that conversation to go." Erza said as she walked up to Hamuko on the deck of the ship.

"I guess I got a little worked up." Hamuko admitted sheepishly. "But nothing I said was untrue."

"Indeed." Erza agreed. "It took time to convince her you weren't being cruel for the sake of it. She thought since Natsu acts the way he does and no one calls him on it that it was okay."

"Y'know, I was wondering about that." Hamuko said. "The majority of complaints about your guild are more about the Salamander than anyone else. Why haven't the magic council called for his expulsion yet?"

Erza sat leaning against the rail of the ship and sighed. "Dragon Slayers... They're something of a special case. There are two ways to become a dragon slayer. Either you have a lacrima implanted inside your body that contains the magic or you learn it from an actual dragon. Either way the user takes on some characteristics of a dragon. For those who take the lacrima route it's less pronounced but still there. Either way, the user feels a need to establish dominance and becomes much more aggressive. If left to their own devices, a trained Dragon Slayer might just run through a town destroying things while looking for a decent fight."

"That's where guilds come in. If a Dragon Slayer is a member of a guild then he will not only be taught how to curb some of his more violent tendencies, he'll be surrounded by mages that could subdue him or rein him in if necessary. That's pretty much it. The council are fine with Natsu in Fairy Tail because Natsu _out_ of Fairy Tail could be so much worse."

"Hmmm..." That did make a fair amount of sense to Hamuko. The only other alternative would be to hunt them down, imprison them or kill them. And while the Salamander was an idiot, overcoming his raw strength and power would be a daunting task for most S-Class mages. And who knew how many Dragon Slayers there were in the world? Start going after them and they might retaliate. And that didn't bear thinking about.

So she stopped thinking about it.

"How you planning on handling the spirit mage?"

Erza frowned. "She's had an unpleasant taste of reality. Depending on how she handles it it could make her a better mage. In the meantime I'll spend some time working with her. Maybe get her thinking about how she uses her spirits."

Hamuko nodded without reply.

-(-)-

_Meanwhile, on a train bound for Hargeon..._

"I'm just saying you don't make a good first impression, that's all." Yosuke said, trying to placate his friend.

"I make a perfectly fine first impression! I'm friendly!" Seta replied, indignant.

"Yeah. Friendly. How come whenever we go to new places you get all broody and look at people like they ate your dog? It's not cool!"

"I do not do that!" Seta said.

"Sure you do, Sensei!" Teddie confirmed. "I even got the look down so we can look mean together! Check it out!" he exclaimed as he put on an expression that made it look like he was constipated.

"Okay, I _definitely_ don't do _that_."

"Yeah, Ted!" Yosuke laughed. "You look like you need a bathroom."

"Besides," Seta said, changing the subject, "I had a perfectly good reason to be pissed this time. 'The Scholar'? Really? _That's_ the badass nickname they decided to give me? Makes me sound like a bookworm." Seta whined.

"You are a bookworm!" Yosuke pointed out. "You're reading a book right now!"

"That's besides the point! Once a nickname catches on you're stuck with it for the rest of your career! And do I get one for how I can tell the laws of physics to shut up and sit down? No! I get one for being the guy who reads a lot! It sucks! … Also..." Seta finished before throwing his book at Yosuke, who ducked out of the way.

"The throwing your books thing doesn't make a good impression either."

-(-)-

_Meanwhile meanwhile, in the Fate Butterfly guild building..._

A young man entered through the front doors of the building. He had neck-length bronw hair parted to the right and a light skin tone. His outfit consisted of a blue jacket, white trousers and a pale blue shirt with an ankh-like symbol on it as well as a white cape over his shoulders. In simpler terms, the uniform of a division commander of the Magic Council's rune knights. In addition to the uniform, the man wore a pair of sunglasses with red lenses. His serious expression brightened considerably on seeing his target staring at a job poster. "What, no hug this time?"

Tatsuya, on recognising the voice, looked up at the speaker and grinned.

Before tackling the man to the floor.

"Hey, bro! Long time no see!"

-(-)-

A/N: So I've been away for a while. Good reason, honest. I'm a bit ill and was most certainly in no mood to write. I'm still not, to be honest, but felt I needed to post something worthwhile. Prove I'm still kicking and that.

I struggled a teeny tiny bit with the Lucy confrontation. As she quite rightly points out, Hamuko wasn't there. So all the righteous anger she had was over an event she wasn't present for and only had the accounts of one side to go on. While Lucy's side is that she had to do _something_. Also true. But why Aquarius? She could've summoned Tauros to thow her onto the ship, sent him back, summoned Cancer to bust up the slavers (including Bora since he was a pushover, really) and bam. Done. 'But wait! Aquarius works in water!' Okay, why is being in water important? Clue is in the name. She carries water. Why would being _in_ water make the slightest bit of difference? Her abilities would work the same either way. If it were Pisces I would underst- oh wait. PISCES DOESN'T NEED WATER EITHER! IT'S A BLOODY FLYING FISH!

So yeah. Rant over. Aquarius doesn't actually need water in this fic. Lucy just assumed she did because she's a bit of a pillock (and her pillockiness is pretty much canon).

The Seta section is a bit of making fun of my own writing. I write that Seta is pretty much an easygoing nice guy in the fourth chapter then immediately have him all 'RARRERARGH RAAAAGE!' That was... stupid. But pretty funny in hindsight. Gotta be able to laugh at yourself and all.

**REVIEWS**

Last time I do these in a chapter, folks. Responses will be messaged from here out.

**Engineer4eer**: Phantom Lord arc is indeed next. Setup will be next chapter.

… That's it. I only had an answer for I AM YOU besides and I think I messaged that guy. If not, I'll get him next time.

Thanks for reading!


	11. Reach Out to the Truth

"Must they do this every time?" Margaret asked as she watched the ongoing brawl between brothers in the guild lobby.

"You should learn to enjoy these... _passionate_ displays, sister." Elizabeth retorted. "Especially when they involve such dishy participants." she finished with a predatory grin.

"You're incorrigible!" Margaret scoffed.

"I heard punching sounds! Is it the Suou brothers?!" Theodore asked excitedly as he rushed in from the basement stairs. "What'd I miss?"

"Not much." Elizabeth answered before noticing the brothers were getting some distance and removing their jackets. "WOO! Take it off!" she cheered as Margaret palmed her face.

_With the brothers_

"Does it bother you? Them ogling us every time, I mean?" Katsuya asked as he threw his jacket away.

"Oya, are you kidding?! Soon as I kick your ass the girls will be all over me!" Tatsuya answered.

Katsuya raised an eyebrow. "Hasn't happened yet. Feeling lucky today, little brother?"

"OYA! I'm lucky _every _day!", his brother yelled as he moved in with fist raised.

_With the guild mages_

"'All over him', huh?" Eriko smirked. "Like any of us would be that shall... ow?" she finished uncertainly as she looked around, seeing several of the guild members watching the bout with hearts in their eyes. Including a couple of the guys. 'Are the Djungvral twins... drooling?'

"Doesn't matter." Akihiko chipped in, he being the only member of Hamuko's team not to accompany her due to limited proficiency in his chosen magic. "Tatsuya'll never win. How long has Katsuya been a Rune Knight? He has way more fighting experience than Tatsuya in basic hand-to-hand. If they could use magic, he might have the upper hand but as it stands-" Akihiko winced mid-analysis due to Katsuya putting his little brother in a choke-hold.

"Say I'm the best!" Katsuya barked.

"Gkur th balr..." Tatsuya tried.

"SAY IT!"

"GKUR TH BK!"

"And don't you forget it!" Katsuya nodded in satisfaction as he let his little brother go and watched him slump to the floor trying to get his breath back.

Tatsuya continued wheezing on the floor for a few seconds before attempting to speak again. "So- ahem, so what brings you by, Kats?"

"The council have a request."

"By which you mean they have a job. That they will pay us for. _Right_?"

Katsuya hesitated. "... It could go pretty bad if you say no, little brother."

'Of course it could.' Tatsuya thought. "Oya, Eriko! Could we get some healing, please?" he requested. "So... What are the basics, then?"

"A potential guild war." And the uproar started.

"Are you insane?!"

"-actively trying to make things worse?!"

"-sending _Tatsuya_ of all people?!"

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!" Katsuya said, quieting most of the complaints. "One guild destroyed another's guild hall we're worried about retaliation. But since no one's gotten hurt yet, the council can't directly get involved. So I figure they want to send someone to keep the peace and if necessary, get involved and end the war with the council's authority."

"Oya... Let me get this right. You want me to go into a situation where both sides are itching for a fight and try to stop them. And if that doesn't work, pick a side and make them win. Am I getting that right, brother?"

"Probably." Katsuya shrugged. "I'd assume they want you to pick the side in the least wrong. Or at least I personally hope you'd do that."

"Oya... Jumping into the middle of a war... No guaranteed pay... Oh, well. Might as well spread the misery. NAOYA! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! WE GOT A JOB!"

Said guild mage looked up from his latest... test subject; a Sleep Ring, to try to figure out what just happened in the conversation he'd barely paid attention to. Somehow he got the impression that he should hate Tatsuya.

"So where we going, Kats?"

"Magnolia."

"... You're not serious."

"You're the closest guild and we need to get a handle on this before it spirals out of control!" Katsuya defended.

"You want us to defend Fairy Tail?!" Tatsuya asked, astonished.

"We want you to prevent a war. Or if it comes to it, end one."

-(-)-

_Several hours later_

"Welcome back, Hamuko!" Elizabeth greeted as Hamuko walked in. Then added "and team" as Mitsuru, Junpei and Fuuka followed. "Mission accomplished?"

"Yep!" Hamuko chirped as she bounced into a chair. "Despite some interference. Some Fairy Tail mages decided they wanted to play 'S-Class' and stole a copy of the job posting and tried to finish it themselves. So much for my debut in the big leagues." she huffed.

Everyone in the room decided at that moment that it was best not to tell Hamuko where Tatsuya, Naoya, Kei and Eikichi had gone.

Hamuko looked around. "Hey, where's Kei? I got a present for him!"

There was an imperceptible pause before Elizabeth answered. "On a job. Naoya took him. And Tatsuya. And Eikichi."

Junpei's eyebrows shot up so fast they almost knocked his hat off. "Naoya _and_ Tatsuya for one job? Must be a hell of a job!"

"Just a... peacekeeping thing. They just wanted backup in case something went wrong."

"Peacekeeping? And Suou went? Surely someone more appropriate was available?" Mitsuru questioned.

"W-well Katsuya stopped by and-"

"Aww, really? I missed a show!" Hamuko pouted, interrupting Elizabeth's nervous explanation.

However, her hope that the conversation would be diverted was squashed instantly.

"Doesn't Katsuya work for the council?" Fuuka questioned. "So... Tatsuya is on a council-sponsored mission?"

Before anyone could answer, the outer door slammed open again. "We're the greatest!" Yosuke announced, arms held high as he and the rest of Seta's team entered.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Elizabeth greeted the newly returned team. "I trust the mission went well?" she asked Seta.

"Oh, sure." Yosuke answered instead. "Seta decided to throw a tantrum over his new nickname in front of some villagers but aside from that-"

Seta slapped him on the back of the head with a book. "There was no tantrum." he stated with authority. "So, what'd we miss?"

"Elizabeth was about to tell us about this council mission Tatsuya and Naoya have gone on." Hamuko said. She didn't want to get Seta all pissed off at Fairy Tail again with her story of her first S-rank job. She was considerate like that.

"O-oh, it's really not important!" Elizabeth said, realising her situation had in fact gotten worse, not better. "Just a peacekeeping mission with no interesting details whatsoever!"

Seta raised an eyebrow. "From the council? Requiring _two_ S-class mages?" his gaze turned suspicious. "What aren't you telling us, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth started wringing her hands, deciding there was nothing for it. Someone would've told them eventually. She just wished it didn't have to be _her_. "W-well, you see-"

_Several hours later_

"-DESTROY EVERYTHING THEY TOUCH AND WE HAVE TO COME IN TO SAVE THEIR ASSES I SHOULD-"

Listening to a straight three hours of ranting can really wear on a person. So when Akihiko decided to put his rudimentary lightning magic to use...

"-THE HELL IS THE POINT OF HELPING THEM WHEN THEY HGHhgh..."

… And temporarily paralyse Seta, the only rational response would be a resounding "Thank you, Akihiko." from everyone in the building.

"You're welcome." he answered as he smiled and sat down. "He'll be out for about ten minutes if you want to restrain him."

Hamuko's eyes widened at that before she lunged at Akihiko for a back-breaking hug. "You are the best friend ever! _EVER!_" She then grabbed Seta, slung him over her shoulder in an impossible show of strength and carried him upstairs.

It was three days before anyone saw either of them again. But when they finally appeared, both had constant smiles on their faces.

-(-)-

A/N: Transitional chapter! Yay! I honestly have almost nothing to say about this one. Just kind of knocked it out while I was bored. So the Phantom Lord arc starts proper next time.

Yeah, that's... pretty much it.

Thanks for reading.


	12. Deep Breath Deep Breath

It was near nightfall by the time Tatsuya and company arrived at their destination; the Fairy Tail guild hall. The building itself was of a pagoda-like design, three floors decreasing in size as they went up. The roof was heavily slanted on each floor, giving an almost pyramid like appearance were it not for the walls that connected each floor. The building was topped with a flag planted on a large dome.

There were also several iron rods – each easily a meter in diameter – puncturing the building at various points.

Eikichi whistled, impressed. "They really did a number on this place!" he observed. "Think they'll have to tear it down?"

Kei nodded solemnly. "It looks like the attacks were random but they've still done enough damage. See the one on the second floor to our left?" he pointed. "And that one on the third floor going down? They might have been lucky shots but if they remove those rods and the building stays standing I'll be amazed."

"So? There's all kinds of magic they could use to keep it up until it's stable again, right?" Eikichi argued back.

"True." Kei conceded. "But with this much damage..."

"He's saying it'd be cheaper to knock it down and start over." Tatsuya interrupted.

"Wha?! No way! This place's been around for decades! It's like a national landmark or somethin'! No way they just knock it down and start over!"

"It's just a building." Tatsuya countered. "It'll suck for their guild members to lose a place where they made good memories. I know I'd be pissed if the Spire was attacked like this and it would suck if we had to tear it down, especially for those of us who helped build it." he continued, Naoya nodding at the last part. "But it's just a building. No one was hurt. The insult will sting for a bit but they'll start over, rebuild and be better for surviving after."

"Nice speech, kid.", a new voice spoke. "I just got done telling my brats the same thing."

The four Fate Butterfly mages looked around to find the source of the voice until Kei, the shortest of them glanced down and spotted the little old man.

"Yo!" the pint-sized geezer greeted them with a smile.

'Short, old, moustache, came out of the guild hall.' "Fairy Tail guildmaster, Makarov Dreyar?" Tatsuya guessed. "Do I call you Mr Dreyar or Master Makarov or some other variation on that...?"

'Again I wonder why he was sent over anyone else.', Naoya thought to himself.

"Makarov is fine, kid. But what do I call you?" Makarov asked.

"Ah, right. Sorry! I'm Tatsuya and this is Naoya." he answered, pointing to himself and then Naoya who did a little wave, before pointing behind him with a thumb. "These two aren't important."

"OI! Who you callin' not important you pretty boy asshat!" Eikichi shouted as he took a swing at Tatsuya, who casually dodged, having been through this many times. Eikichi thrust a finger in Makarov's direction before declaring "I'm Eikichi Mishina, old man! And don't you forget it!"

"I see now why you brought me along, Naoya. To offset Tatsuya managing to bring someone worse at diplomacy than he is." Kei deduced out loud. "Kei Nanjo" he said, introducing himself. "It is an honour to meet one of the Ten Wizard Saints, Master Makarov."

"Tch. Someone did their homework, I see. Don't get _too_ honoured now, kid. The title's more down to politics than anything else. So! What brings Starfire Tatsuya and the Rainbow Mage to our humble doorstep, eh?" Taking in their mildly shocked appearance he added, "I do my homework too."

"The Council." Tatsuya said and watched Makarov grimace. "Yeah. Not thrilled about it either. My pain-in-the-ass brother-OW! I mean 'an honourable Rune Knight who happens to be my pain-in-the-ass brother'*, satisfied?" Tatsuya asked Naoya, rubbing his now bruised shin. Naoya shook his head no, for obvious reasons. "He sent me here because the council is nervous due to a brewing guild war. We were the nearest guild which apparently makes us the best choice despite several of our members hating your gu-OW! Quit kicking me, dammit!"

'Unbelievable!' Naoya thought, rolling his eyes.

"Mmm." Makarov hummed in understanding closing his eyes and speaking as diplomatically as possible. "My runaways just got back from that mess of an S-Class job they stole. Natsu can be a miscreant sometimes. He and the others will be severely punished, I assure... you?" he finished, having opened his eyes to see the other mages looking confused.

"I haven't seen any of your guys on an S-Class job. Naoya?" Tatsuya asked to which he received another negative. "Hm. Must've been on Seta's- no... they wouldn't be in any condition to get back here if they decided to get in _his_ way, the crazy bastard." he muttered. "So that leaves..."

In that instant of realisation, Tatsuya stopped caring that Makarov Dreyar was the guildmaster of Fairy Tail. And that he was one of the Ten Wizard Saints. He wanted answers and Makarov would pray that he had the right ones. "What. Did your mages. Do." he demanded, flaring his magic from his hands.

Makarov appeared calm. But it was a prepared kind of calm. If the kid decided to do something stupid he would be ready. "Best you calm down, kid. You're fifty years too young to try taking me head-on."

"Hamuko Arisato is like a younger sister to me, so as far as I'm aware, your guild members attacked my family. Nanjo! How much more punishment do you think that place could take before it collapses in on itself?" By the slight widening of Makarov's eyes, Tatsuya knew the old man hadn't missed the implications of that question.

Almost every mage of Fairy Tail would be crushed under the rubble.

Kei decided against answering the question. "We came here to _stop_ a war, remember? Not start another one."

"Don't even know if there's something worth starting one over yet. Just waiting for an answer to the question I asked Mr Dreyar. How about it, old man?" Tatsuya pressed.

Makarov had a great deal to be proud of. Himself for being as capable as he was. His guild for being as strong and respected as it was. His brats for their strength and dedication to each other. Yes, he was proud. But he would never let his ego risk the lives of his mages when there was another way. So he re-told the exploits of his runaways as it he had been told them by Erza not half an hour before, making sure to very clearly state no Fate Butterfly mage came to harm at the hands of anyone from Fairy Tail.

Once he was done, it was like a switch had flipped. Tatsuya calmed down instantly and was all polite again. "Oh, so that's what happened. That's a relief. You shouldn't scare me like that, old man!" Tatsuya complained, grinning.

Makarov sighed lightly to himself and wandered back inside, muttering about every S-Class mage being a complete nutball.

There was a very pregnant pause with the Fate Butterfly mages. Naoya and Kei staring incredulously at Tatsuya and wondering not for the last time why he was sent for this mission. Eikichi was unfazed, having seen his team leader act similarly on many occasions. Tatsuya himself was trying to remember how he felt after his own first S-Class job to figure out how Hamuko was feeling at that exact moment.

-(-)-

_In Hargeon, at that exact moment_

Seta woke up with a headache. He wasn't sure why. He remembered arguing with Yosuke on the train about that stupid nickname and his perfectly reasonable reaction to it then... nothing. Looking around, his surroundings were somehow familiar but he couldn't place them. He was in a bedroom.

Good sign.

An unfamiliar bedroom.

Not so good sign.

Chained to the bed.

… Could go either way on that one.

Then he realised why it seemed so familiar. It wasn't the appearance of the room. It was the sound! A constant cacophony of clicks and ticks; the signature sound of the 4th floor of the Velvet Spire! He must've gotten injured somehow and been brought back to the guild!

"Setaaaa...", a female voice spoke from behind one of the doors. "I've finally got you all to myself..."

The door opened and in walked Hamuko wearing something clearly purchased specifically for this occasion. For the sake of propriety we'll say it was black, lacy and there wasn't much of it.

"Now what shall I do with you, hm?"

-(-)-

A/N: Yes, we'll be looking back at events in the FB guild hall as events progress. Too much comedy potential not to. Irony that that's as risqué as I've ever gotten and it happened in my only T rated fic. Go figure.

I'm not dead, this is a warm-up for writing other stuff since I can whip up a chapter without much thought here and I don't have to transcribe anything like in HPGOTY, FEShadow or my planned Fable 2 fic (though that last one will only be for the first chapter and GOTY only for some early ones).

I don't think I have much else to talk about here. So, guess that's it.

Thanks for reading!


	13. Omen

"So how are we playing this one, oh, glorious leader?" Kei asked Tatsuya as the group of four mages stood aimlessly in front of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.

"Oyaaaaa... What're the chances they'll attack this place again, do you think?" Tatsuya asked as he adjusted his tie. _'Don't care if he _was_ being sarcastic. _I'm_ the leader! Heh!'_

Kei fixed his glasses and glanced at the nearly destroyed building. "Not so high, I'd wager. This place could collapse from a stiff breeze."

"Four-eyes is right. This place is like message received, right? Like 'we could mess you up whenever and ain't nothin' you can do about it!'" The street-punk turned mage Eikichi said. "And if they try and fix it up again, they'll just hit it harder next time."

_'Well so much for a free place to stay.'_ Tatsuya bemoaned internally. "So if this place was a message... Oya, this is Fairy Tail we're talking about. What kind of response would we expect Fairy Tail to give to something like this?"

"Well they're the 'you hit me, I hit you back' types, right? My kind of people!" Eikichi observed with a grin.

"But they didn't do that so... They'll try again." Kei figured. "Maybe they'd hit Fairy Hills or-"

"DIBS!" Tatsuya and Eikichi shouted at the same time. No chance they would pass up an opportunity to visit the female only dorms of the Guild with some of the hottest ladies in Fiore.

"_Or_," Kei stressed, "some of the mages that live in the city proper. I believe myself and Naoya would be the better choice for guarding the women's dorm-"

"But...! But...! _Dibs!_" Tatsuya whined, seemingly forgetting he was the designated leader on this mission.

"Any pair of us could guard the dorm easily enough. However, you are the only one capable of watching an entire city at once, Tatsuya." Kei reminded.

"Oyaaa, you're no fun, Kei!" Tatsuya continued to whine. He might have agreed with the younger mage, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He never got to do anything fun with his awesome eye magic!

"On the contrary! I'm sure the fine ladies of Fairy Tail will find Naoya and I to be tons of fun." Kei smirked, taking no small amount of glee from Tatsuya's sullen expression.

-(-)-

"So that backfired rather spectacularly." Kei observed, twitching as he and Naoya left the premises of Fairy Hills.

"Mm." Naoya agreed nonverbally.

They had arrived to find the dorm empty of all occupants save for the caretaker. A crabby old woman with no patience for shenanigans. It was a full twenty minutes into their unearned beating for supposedly being perverts that the caretaker told them no one was even there! All of the usual residents had opted to stay with friends for the night on the advice of the Guildmaster. It would have been nice if the diminutive man had deigned to tell them that _before_ he left.

"Ah, well. I suppose we head back to the guild hall, then?"

"Mm." Naoya agreed again.

-(-)-

"Eeheehee!" Tatsuya giggled to himself.

"What's up, boss?" Eikichi asked as he lay as comfortably as he could on the rooftop they had appropriated for their guard duty.

"Titania. Buck-ass nekkid. Man, first I get to beat Katsu's ass and now this? I'm having the best day!" He announced before descending into giggles again.

Eikichi wished not for the first time that he had eye magic like Tatsuya's. He rolled his eyes before belting his team leader across the face. "Keep the eyes moving, boss. We're on guard duty, remember?"

"Oya! I know! I'm not even there anymore. It was just for a-Oh." Tatsuya stopped. Focusing, he withdrew his Heaven's Eye to himself. "Get to the Guild Hall. Find Makarov. Tell him there's... Tell him to meet me at the park in the south of town. Then fetch the other two. We need to decide our next move."

"What's goin' on, boss?" Eikichi asked.

"These guys just sent their next message."

-(-)-

"Are we aiding them?" Naoya asked the rest of his group quietly. They had returned with the procession back to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall where every available Mage was gearing up for a first strike against Phantom Lord.

Tatsuya sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Our first job here was to prevent a war. If what Makarov said was any indication, we failed that part." The tiny Guildmaster was genuinely terrifying to behold when he saw what became of Levy McGarden and her team. Tied, beaten and to add extra humiliation on top of everything else, Phantom Lord's Guild Mark tattooed on the girl's stomach.

Remembering that image was the only thing needed for Tatsuya to decide. "Yes. As of now, we have three goals. First, find out why Phantom Lord picked this fight. Second – and dependant on the outcome of the first – stomp some Phantom Lord bastards into the ground. And a distant third, do what we can to protect Fairy Tail."

Naoya nodded his agreement with the plan, as did Kei and Eikichi, the latter much more vigorously.

"So, boys. What's the council's opinion on this?" The voice of Makarov asked as he neared the group.

Tatsuya moved to stand, before thinking better of it and remaining seated to stay eye level with the old man. "Our job was to stop a war. Failing that, we're charged with ending it. The way we see it, Phantom Lord wants a fight. Any idea why?"

Makarov grimaced and shook his head. "We've been rival Guilds a long time, but I can't imagine that would be why they..." The old man tensed up, teeth clenched before turning away to rejoin his guild. "Come if you're coming! Otherwise stay out of the way! Phantom Lord wants a fight? We're gonna give 'em one!"

-(-)-

_In Hargeon_

Akihiko was both irritated and confused. He'd somehow managed to lock himself out of his own room. That wouldn't be so strange - it had happened before once or twice - but he had his key with him.

Maybe the lock was broken? That seemed logical. Moving his shoulder to the door in preparation for forcing it open-

"_Seta, that tickles! Ah, oooh..."_

'_… No way.'_ She wouldn't. Not in his room. That made no sense!

Abandoning his attempt to bust the door open, he instead banged on it with his fist. The constant noise of the clocks on the fourth floor masking what would have been suspicious shuffling sounds. Seconds later, Akihiko heard the deadbolt unlock before the door opened slightly. A red eye peered out before the door opened a bit further. "Hey, Aki! What's up? I'm kind of busy..." Hamuko trailed off.

"My room. Why are you in-no. Why are you doing _that_ in _my_ room?!"

Hamuko rolled her visible eye. "Well I was gonna use mine, but I share a wall with _Junpei_. He'd probably try to shout pointers through the wall or... do other stuff." She shuddered before adopting a deep blush for some reason. "Uhh, I, I really gotta go we'll talk tomorrow or somethingokaybye!" She shouted in a rush before slamming the door and reapplying the deadbolt.

-(-)-

A/N: I'm not sure. I might be pushing the bounds of T with this one but only very slightly. Oh well. Do I have anything else to say about this chapter... not really. Hm.

Uhh, thanks for reading?


End file.
